Posted on 03/12/2008 5:28:18 AM PDT by BGHater
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A dolphin has come to the rescue of two whales which had become stranded on a beach in New Zealand. Conservation officer Malcolm Smith told the BBC that he and a group of other people had tried in vain for an hour and a half to get the whales to sea. The pygmy sperm whales had repeatedly beached, and both they and the humans were tired and set to give up, he said. But then the dolphin appeared, communicated with the whales, and led them to safety.
The bottlenose dolphin, called Moko by local residents, is well known for playing with swimmers off Mahia beach on the east coast of the North Island.
Mr Smith said that just when his team was flagging, the dolphin showed up and made straight for them. "I don't speak whale and I don't speak dolphin," Mr Smith told the BBC, "but there was obviously something that went on because the two whales changed their attitude from being quite distressed to following the dolphin quite willingly and directly along the beach and straight out to sea." He added: "The dolphin did what we had failed to do. It was all over in a matter of minutes." Back at play
Mr Smith said he felt fortunate to have witnessed the extraordinary event, and was delighted for the whales, as in the past he has had to put down animals which have become beached.
He said that the whales have not been seen since, but that the dolphin had returned to its usual practice of playing with swimmers in the bay. "I shouldn't do this I know, we are meant to remain scientific," Mr Smith said, "but I actually went into the water with the dolphin and gave it a pat afterwards because she really did save the day." |
Beached whales....Bush’s fault.
Cool!
Animals often show more humanity than humans themselves.....this is one of those times.
George: The sea was angry that day my friends.
I LOVE dolphins. Although I saw a show the other day that showed that groups of them will attack a porpoise and slam them out of the water for up to a half an hour and it kills the porpoise. I wish I understand why this happened.
But I still LOVE dolphins. There is NOTHING like one coming up to you under water and looking you in the eye. I mean it is almost religious (don’t make fun of me, I cannot describe the communication) in how they can make you feel.
The only ones who would make fun of you are ones who do not understand.
Dolphins are like that: they tend to be altruistic to other sentient beings, humans included (and, yes, there’s enough evidence that dolphins and whales are sentient). There are plenty of recorded instances of wild dolphins rescuing human, either by pulling them near shore, or attacking and driving off sharks.
Dolphins are like that: they tend to be altruistic to other sentient beings, humans included (and, yes, there’s enough evidence that dolphins and whales are sentient). There are plenty of recorded instances of wild dolphins rescuing human, either by pulling them near shore, or attacking and driving off sharks.
Very true.
The people were trying to accomplish the same thing the dolphin managed to do. That makes them less humane than the dolphin? What a crock of BS.
crock of BS? that seems a little strong
How very cool!
R in B’s statement that animals are often more humane than people and this incident is an illustration is so off the mark I don’t know what else to call it.
Amazing. Too bad they couldn’t capture what was that communication.
A porpoise driven life, no doubt.
Oh stewardess, I speak jive:
Jus’ hang loose blooood...
These people were trying to save these creatures. It happens all the time with humans.
Cruelty happens all the time with animals and if you knew more about animals you would never have made such a stupid statement. Thanks for crapping on a nice thread./s
Awww, thank you and you are so right! I never understood until it happened. There is something about them!
This is a very nice story but the story is that an animal helped another animal which is generally unusual behavior in animals. Dolphins have been documented doing this for humans many times.
Helping other species is NORMAL behavior in humans however and it’s not unusual for people to extend this normal behavior to wild animals.
The story here is that we have a documented case of a wild animal behaving like a human.
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