Dolphins protect swimmers from sharks in NZ

[bryanthompson]

This is a pretty cool story. Sortof like a pet pot-belly pig or a dog pulling someone from a burning building.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&u=/nm/20041123/sc_nm/life_newzealand_dolphins_dc&printer=1

A pod of dolphins circled protectively round a group of New Zealand swimmers to fend off an attack by a great white shark, media reported on Tuesday.

Lifesavers Rob Howes, his 15-year-old daughter Niccy, Karina Cooper and Helen Slade were swimming 300 feet off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on New Zealand's North Island when the dolphins herded them -- apparently to protect them from a shark.

"They started to herd us up, they pushed all four of us together by doing tight circles around us," Howes told the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA).

Howes tried to drift away from the group, but two of the bigger dolphins herded him back just as he spotted a nine-foot great white shark swimming toward the group.

"I just recoiled. It was only about 2 m away from me, the water was crystal clear and it was as clear as the nose on my face," Howes said, referring to a distance of 6 feet.

"They had corralled us up to protect us," he said.

The lifesavers spent the next 40 minutes surrounded by the dolphins before they could safely swim back to shore. The incident happened on October 30, but the lifesavers kept the story to themselves until now.

Environment group Orca Research said dolphins attacked sharks to protect themselves and their young, so their actions in protecting the lifesavers was understandable.

"They could have sensed the danger to the swimmers and taken action to protect them," Orca's Ingrid Visser told NZPA.

[952]

Go the dolphins! Interesting, NZ is home to the worlds smallest dolphin species...

[952]

No, NZ is the home to the smallest dolphin species...

Hector's dolphin
Cephalorhynchus hectori

[rcecale]

well, obviously the Dolphins aren't sissies! Must be a local land-dweller thing....

Randy

[juanbenae]

kinda like W and dick are the dolphins and the shark is the middle east? or are we the US, the shark, or is dick satan, or is W a robot? or will the cornhuskers figure out the west coast offense?

hey BT,,

[woodman]

pogue mahon

[bryanthompson]

Originally posted by k911sc
...or will the cornhuskers figure out the west coast offense?

hey BT,,

Hey, now that was a low blow... None of us are happy about this sissy west coast offense crap, but I'm sure we'll master it like we do everything else, and win two or three championships in a row... again.

[RoninLB]

fwiw..
I read an extraordinary book on a dolphin family. It's an almost impossible undertaking by the scientist on the Austrialian coast over a period of years. It's a riveting story and compares to Jane Goodall's "In the Shadow of Man"

"To Touch A Wild Dolphin" by Rachel Smolker

[juanbenae]

yeah,, been saving that one for a special occasion.....