• From: zerone
  • Registered: 2004-08-16

Topic: Dolphins protect swimmers from Shark!

this is an amazing story;

near the end of October a family and some friends were swimming farily deep into the ocean off the shore off New Zealand, when they noticed a group of Dolphins surround them and begin swimming circles around them, forcing the swimmers to bunch up close.

Appearantly one of the swimmer attempted to swim away, and one Dolphin quickly herded him back into the circle. at that moment, the gentleman saw why the Dolphins were surrounding them-- there was a 9-foot great white Shark just a few meters away!!

Isn't that amazing ?!?!!

heres the full yahoo! article;

Dolphins Protect New Zealand Swimmers from Shark

Mon Nov 22, 9:52 PM ET 



WELLINGTON (Reuters) - 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.

"...i was taken by the hand, from the ocean to the sand..."
nitin sawhney - 'eastern eyes'

zonabi's Website

  • Registered: 2004-04-10

Re: Dolphins protect swimmers from Shark!

WOW!

Maybe we can only wonder at the wisdom of animals.  Humans continue to mistreat and disrespect them, but these examples seem to show that they help us in spite of everything.

If there is no time
      Then you have time for everything.
   You're never in a hurry.
That's true freedom.
  • morningsun76
  • morningsun76
  • the answer has been with you the whole time
  • Offline
  • From: In two worlds
  • Registered: 2004-09-10

Re: Dolphins protect swimmers from Shark!

If you search for the names of those people in Google News, you'll find there was a follow up story tellling that 2 of the dolphins were killed by poachers just a few days later.  They'll probably think twice before saving humans again, when that's the thanks they get.

  • From: zerone
  • Registered: 2004-08-16

Re: Dolphins protect swimmers from Shark!

they will continue to help humans because dolphins have unconditional love.

"...i was taken by the hand, from the ocean to the sand..."
nitin sawhney - 'eastern eyes'

zonabi's Website

5 Reply by digger (edited by digger 2004-11-27 12:31:38)

  • Registered: 2004-11-11

Re: Dolphins protect swimmers from Shark!

OT: zonabi, I always thought your av was a guy holding a gun. Only now I realize  it's a female doing some dance. Lol, had a good laugh about myself...
-dig

  • Registered: 2004-04-21

Re: Dolphins protect swimmers from Shark!

Here's a link to the poaching story:

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/interna … 1362192004

  • From: zerone
  • Registered: 2004-08-16

Re: Dolphins protect swimmers from Shark!

@digger:
haha, yea its kind of hard to tell since its so small.

its the cover art to one of my fav. DJs singles; paul oakenfold's southern sun, here's a closeup;

http://www.shop-engel.de/bilder/2005/Paul_Oakenfold_Oakenfold_Paul_Southern_Sun_Original_Promo_Promo_Poster_k.jpg

"...i was taken by the hand, from the ocean to the sand..."
nitin sawhney - 'eastern eyes'

zonabi's Website

8 Reply by Alushe

  • Alushe
  • Guest

Re: Dolphins protect swimmers from Shark!

I'm from NZ myself, I live in Christchurch in the South Island. My uncle and auntie live roughly 1.5 hours outside of town in Le Bons Bay which is basically a big valley running through a forest right to a beautiful beach. My uncle is a ranger for the Department of Conservation, but they generally use the money they get for power, phone and a few other things. Other than that they are totally self-sufficient vegetarians.

Why I say this is that one day my uncle took me out on his jetboat around into Akaroa harbour, then further out near the cliffs. There were dolphins swimming alongside the boat the whole time, and when we stopped to eat lunch they swam up and showed themselves to us. Very playful, very intelligent if you ask me.

I've often heard it said that if dolphins and whales are so intelligent how come they don't have technology, cities, armies etc and my response has always been "you think having technology and cities makes one intelligent?".

9 Reply by morningsun76 (edited by morningsun76 2004-11-29 17:58:26)

  • morningsun76
  • morningsun76
  • the answer has been with you the whole time
  • Offline
  • From: In two worlds
  • Registered: 2004-09-10

Re: Dolphins protect swimmers from Shark!

True.. in The Hitchhiker's Guide series, Douglas Adams made the poignant observation (and I'm paraphrasing here) that humans always believed that they were the most intelligent species on Earth because they worked hard and built amazing buildings, cars, electronics, TV, airplanes, and so on, and all the dolphins ever did was muck about and play in the water all day long.   Meanwhile, the dolphins believed THEY were the most intelligent species on Earth, for the same reason. 

When the dolphins finally packed up and left the Earth for good, their final message to mankind was "So long, and thanks for all the fish."