NZ dolphin rescues beached whales

[Kapaibro]

When my dad was here, we went to the aquarium in Valencia. The baby dolphins were trying to do jumps and kept chirping during the performance!
Their mums were not impressed!

And there was one young dolphin learning the routine, and after the show he would show off, throwing a fish around, and shimmy up onto the stage and pose for photos!

[BroncoManiac_69]

It's too bad that humans aren't as smart as the dolphins on this planet.



What a great story. I love petting them and the next Caribbean cruise we go on, I want to swim with them.

[BroncFanIN]

That is SO cool!

I was just in Sea World last Friday (which seems like a life time ago, sitting up here in the slowly warming mid-west), and I got to watch the Dolphin and Whale shows there.

The communication between these animals and their trainers is a great thing to witness. They are such smart animals.

I also got to see the dolphin nursery, watch the young-in's play with each other. The lady that was explaining their behaviour said that commonly both the mother and father of the the baby dolphin raise them. If the father is not there, they usually have another support dolphins, called an "aunt".

And watching the dolphins in the show last week, it was very apparent the dolphins had a strong affinity for their trainers. They loved it when their trainers scratched their heads, kissed their noses and tounges.

Amazing mammals!

I also heard that dolphins are basically miniture whales. So much we dont know and yet to understand about these great creatures.

[jetrazor74]

Prob something like that.

I heard somewhere that Dolphins are very..how do I say this without getting into trouble.. (they like to mate alot with everything).. so maybe it was a..if I help you .. you owe me.. deal..

But on the serious side that is very cool!

I think the word you're looking for is 'promiscuous.' LOL

They call him Flipper... Flipper....
faster than liiiiiightning......
no one you see.....
is smarter than heeeee...

That is amazing.

I wonder what the dolphin said to the whales? 'Hey, dummies, the water's over here!'

to the dolphin!

Prob something like that.

I heard somewhere that Dolphins are very..how do I say this without getting into trouble.. (they like to mate alot with everything).. so maybe it was a..if I help you .. you owe me.. deal..

But on the serious side that is very cool!

[Peanut]

That is amazing.

I wonder what the dolphin said to the whales? 'Hey, dummies, the water's over here!'

to the dolphin!

[Kapaibro]

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."

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."