Dolphins save swimmers in New Zealand by Niki2

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Dolphins save swimmers in New Zealand

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Friday, October 9, 2009 02:06
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Tuesday, September 1, 2009 8:03 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

I saw a documentary on this Sunday on Animal Planet and it blew my mind. Since it was so long ago, it may well have been posted back then, but to me it was new, and amazing:

Dolphins save swimmers from shark

A group of lifeguards swimming off the coast of New Zealand may have been saved from a shark attack recently by several protective dolphins that helped to hold the predator at bay.
Lifeguard Rob Howes said he and three female lifeguards were on a training swim about 100 metres off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on the North Island.

About halfway through the swim, a pod of dolphins "came steaming at us" and started circling, startling the swimmers, he said.

Howes said he was unnerved by speed of the approach, thinking perhaps it was a group of aggressive males or dolphins protecting their baby.

The dolphins bunched the four swimmers together by circling about 4-8 centimetres from them, and slapping the water with their tails for about 40 minutes.

Howes said he drifted away from the main group when an opening occurred. One large dolphin became agitated and submerged toward Howes, who turned to see where it would surface.

That, he says, is when he saw a great white shark about two metres away in the beach's crystal clear waters.

"The form came and travelled in an arc around me. I knew instinctively what it was," he said.

When the shark started moving toward the women, including his 15-year-old daughter, the dolphins "went into hyperdrive," said Howes.

"I would suggest they were creating a confusion screen around the girls. It was just a mass of fins, backs and ... human heads."

The shark left as a rescue boat neared, but the dolphins remained close by as the group swam back to shore. At no point did the shark break the surface of the water, remaining near the bottom, he said.

Howes said he didn't tell the rest of the group about the shark until the next day.

"I came out of that water and I was stunned. I had no idea how to relay what had happened and how to deal with it," said Howes.

While this all happened on Oct. 30, the swimmers didn't tell their story until recently.

He says he spent the next few weeks talking with dolphin experts about the incident, who told him it wasn't unusual for dolphins to protect swimmers.

The film was astonishing; I don't know how they managed it. There were parts which showed a shark, dolphins swimming around him and the legs of the people in the water, plus film from above showing the dolphins slapping the water with their tails in a tight circle around the swimmers. Aside from being an amazing story, it was very realistic and made one think they were viewing the actual event.

Scientists' comments were interspersed saying how science believes dolphins are capable of empathy with other species (and of course there are other stories of dolphins saving swimmers), and how the two original dolphins' calls brought others to help, etc. Just amazing.

Looked all over for a link to video, but couldn't find one, and Animal Planet's search engine sucks! Wish I could have found it, it was impressive.
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Together we are greater than the sum of our parts

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Tuesday, September 1, 2009 9:56 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

That is an amazing story. First thing I thought of is how the ancient Greeks, I believe, encountered friendly dolphins, and recorded the meetings of man and dolphin in engravings, paintings and such.

My 2nd thought was that, from what I gathered from the story, the dolphins seemed especially protective of the females. Not to sound course, but if the dolphins could sense the females , then they might have figured the shark could as well. Or not. Simply put, dolphins are natural enemies of sharks, and will at times 'gang up' on a shark, ram it to death, whether the shark was posing a threat or not. The animal kingdom has its share of animals which simply do not get along. Lions and Hyenas are very much like that as well, going out of their way to harass or kill each other, where the situation allows.

I'd like to see this video - cool story.

The T.Rex they call JANE!

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Tuesday, September 1, 2009 2:47 PM

HUGHFF

The footage was obviously "after the fact" and probably spliced together out of archives. I vaguely remember the story from news reports.

There are at least three famous New Zealand dolphin stories about specific animals who befriended the local humans.

The first was Pelorus Jack from 1888-1912. He guided ships and boats through Cook Straight, a notoriously perilous stretch of water. In particular, he swam through the Pelorous Sound, hence his name. He was the first animal protected specifically by a law, when the New Zealand parliament passed an act making it illegal to harm him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelorus_Jack

The second was Opo - the friendly dolphin. She played with the local children on a tiny town called Opononi, hence her name, in the Hokianga Harbour in the far North of New Zealand. Opo was only around during 1955-1956 before she was killed. Despite Wikipedia's attempt to put a positive gloss on it, my uncle who lived there and swam with her was unconvinced her killing wasn't deliberate. I frequently used to holiday with my uncle and aunt and would often climb and play on the statue in Opononi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opo_(dolphin)

Today, there's a third friendly dolphin, Moko. Moko means "tattoo" in Te Reo Maori, the language of the indiginous people of New Zealand (the Maori!) and more specifically the facial marking used to identify important people. (Strictly speaking it's not a tattoo either, as it's done with chisels instead of needles.) Have a look:

Anyway, Moko the dolphin has been hanging around Mahia Beach, about 150 twisting kilometres north of where I live. She plays with the locals and once, like an aquatic Spiderman, swished in to save two stranded whales.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moko_(dolphin)

This site has some good links to stories, videos and photos. BTW, the youth in the photo 4th down on the left is a former pupil of mine.
http://www.voyagemahia.com/moko.asp

www.cpfc.org - my life

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Wednesday, September 2, 2009 7:19 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Ooo, a New Zealandar, how neat! Your country is GORGEOUS, if you don't mind my saying so--I've traveled a lot of the world (particularly Asia), and that's one of the few places I've missed that I would give most ANYTHING to have a chance to see!

Yes, I knew about Pelorus Jack and Opo; the others are new to me. I've heard of them playing with swimmers in numerous places; maybe they find us as curious a species as we find them (or I find US).

As to the females, Raptor, you might be right. I can tell you one thing, they're horny as hell. Nobody told me that before I swam with them...my previous experiences had been supporting sick ones in shallow water so they could breathe, but when I swam with the show dolphins, they mobbed me while the trainers stood around laughing. Bastards.

They said they don't allow female trainers in the water with them during their period, for obvious reasons. Maybe they valued the women more highly because of that, tho' they'll get randy with men sometimes, too.

I heard after the fact that one of his daughters had cut her leg before they got in the water, so maybe they were extra protective of her because they knew the blood would attract the shark...also, the guy and his wife were the ones who broke out of the circle (several stories got some points wrong, so I tried to pick the most accurate), so whether it was that the two remaining were female or were youngsters might have had something to do with it, we'll never know.

I WISH I could get my hands on the video, it was truly spectacular. Obviously it was after the fact, but how they managed to get the shark on the bottom, dolphins swimming in a circle and slapping their tales, and four humans kicking in the water, all together, is beyond me. Wasn't CD, and was sure realistic!

And yes, they do mob sharks. I think it's more of a case of killing their only real natural enemy when they can, because sharks ARE just that and go after their young. But I think it happens more when the sharks are a real threat than otherwise, from what I've read.

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Together we are greater than the sum of our parts

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Wednesday, September 2, 2009 1:07 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Speaking of aquatic mammals and man, does anyone know of a story where a photographer in Chile, I think, befriended an Orca ?

The T.Rex they call JANE!

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Thursday, September 3, 2009 7:09 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Ooo, neat...if anyone finds it, I'd love to hear. Marine mammals are neat, period...sea lions play with humans too, and sometimes I wonder just HOW smart marine mammals are, or how much they're able to think about us (and WHAT they think about us!) as well as how much they can empathize.

Many obviously don't hold grudges, or dolphins and whales would kill us on sight!

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Together we are greater than the sum of our parts

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Thursday, September 3, 2009 11:24 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Yeah, I'm not a squeamish type, and understand the whole hunting thing, even if I never did it myself, but killing sea mammals, be it whales, dolphins, orcas, etc... is just flat out WRONG.

The T.Rex they call JANE!

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Thursday, September 3, 2009 9:58 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
Ooo, neat...if anyone finds it, I'd love to hear. Marine mammals are neat, period...sea lions play with humans too, and sometimes I wonder just HOW smart marine mammals are, or how much they're able to think about us (and WHAT they think about us!) as well as how much they can empathize.

Many obviously don't hold grudges, or dolphins and whales would kill us on sight!

________________________
Together we are greater than the sum of our parts

It's likely they differentiate between swimmers and humans in boats. For that matter, humans in smaller boats versus in fishing trawlers.

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Thursday, October 8, 2009 6:34 PM

HURRICANEDAWG

Very neat story, and very lucky for those swimmers. Reading it reminded me of another animal story that I saw awhile back titled "The Animal Odd Couple."

Here's the video link for anyone who'd like to check it out:

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"Well, here I am."

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Friday, October 9, 2009 2:06 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Wow. Crazy story, and touching.

The cynic in me whispers " How'd Bella get her injury in the first place ?". But then reason takes over, and I just KNOW there's no way the elephant was involved, because there's no way the folks running the sanctuary would allow for them to be around each other, were that the case.

The T.Rex they call JANE!

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