Dolphin appears to rescue whales – World environment- msnbc.com
Dolphin appears to rescue whales – World environment- msnbc.com: “WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Most days, Moko the bottlenosed dolphin swims playfully with humans at a New Zealand beach. But this week, it seems, Moko found his mojo.
Witnesses described Wednesday how they saw the dolphin swim up to two stranded whales and guide them to safety.
Before Moko arrived, rescue workers had been working for more than an hour to get two pygmy sperm whales, a mother and her calf, back out to sea after they were stranded Monday off Mahia Beach, said Conservation Department worker Malcolm Smith.”
But Smith said the whales restranded themselves four times on a sandbar slightly out to sea from the beach, about 300 miles northeast of the capital, Wellington. It looked likely they would have to be euthanized to prevent a prolonged death, he said.
‘Disorientated’
“They kept getting disorientated and stranding again,” said Smith, who was among the rescuers. “They obviously couldn’t find their way back past (the sandbar) to the sea.”
Then along came Moko, who approached the whales and appeared to lead them as they swam 200 yards along the beach and through a channel out to the open sea.
“Moko just came flying through the water and pushed in between us and the whales,” Juanita Symes, another rescuer, told The Associated Press. “She got them to head toward the hill, where the channel is. It was an amazing experience.”
Anton van Helden, a marine mammals expert at New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, said the reports of Moko’s rescue were “fantastic” but believable because the dolphins have “a great capacity for altruistic activities.”
These included evidence of dolphins protecting people lost at sea, and their playfulness with other animals.
“But it’s the first time I’ve heard of an inter-species refloating technique. I think that’s wonderful,” said van Helden, who was not involved in the rescue but spoke afterward to Smith.
Dolphins rescue surfer from shark – People: Tales of survival – MSNBC.com
Dolphins rescue surfer from shark – People: Tales of survival – MSNBC.com
This story is about a week old, but I’m just now getting to it. Dolphins are amazing creatures. It really makes a person think about how animals and humans interact.
I can’t believe the guy went back out to the exact same place to surf. I had a three-wheeler wreck in junior high and it took about two years before I had the guts to get back on one…yeah, I’m a wuss. I like his thoughts about the shark and that he was in it’s territory, not the other way around.
Smart Squirrels
I know this has been around the web a few times already, but I just had to post the link. The fact that they would do this willingly…
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