Dolphin Rescues Beached Whales

Posted on March 12, 2008  Comments (5)

New Zealand dolphin rescues beached whales:

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 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.”

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5 Responses to “Dolphin Rescues Beached Whales”

  1. Alex
    March 13th, 2008 @ 2:24 pm

    It’s amazing! I have heard that dolphins can save a person from drowning and that they are very smart. But whales… Is it an unique occurrence?

  2. Dave Head
    July 30th, 2008 @ 5:04 am

    This dolphin [ a young male bottlenose] is something special. I have spent 7 hours in the water with him in the last 7 months. I don’t really believe myself the things we get up to! But when a so-called wild dolphin comes up and rests his head on your chest and ‘talks’ to you then you start to wonder if you are dreaming. But after 6 hours he started taking me for rides, me sitting just in front of his dorsal fin and behind his blowhole -an ‘arm-chair’ ride. aroha Dave

  3. judith
    October 29th, 2008 @ 5:20 am

    Dave, you lucky, lucky man. I would love to swim with dolphins, I think they are amazing creatures. I love all animals, but my 3 favourites are cats, donkeys and dolphins. As I am unlikely to ever meet a dolphin, or own a donkey, I’ve spent my life caring for stray cats.

  4. Ryan Biddulph
    December 17th, 2008 @ 12:25 am

    This is an amazing article. I just viewed a show on Animal Planet the other night where dolphins were protecting people who were attacked by a great white shark. I feel that their level of intelligence is so much higher than we give them credit for. This is probably the case with most animals.

  5. Curious Cat Science: Dolphins Using Tools to Hunt
    December 21st, 2008 @ 9:52 am

    Once the fish start swimming away the dolphin abandons the sponge and catches and eats the fish. Then the dolphin goes back and gets the sponge and continues…

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