NZ dolphin rescues beached whales

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."

Beautiful

Amazing

Mach said:

i dolphins

XxAxX said:

If I ever had to wear a slogan t'shirt thats the one I'd wear

YAY! Moko!

jami0mckay said:

You know that you have one of these t-shirts...fess up!!

shanti0608 said:

JustErin said:

now I'm gonna think all dolphins sound like Tony Soprano

jami0mckay said:

a friend took me wahle watching off the caose of southern CA. the real stars of the show were the dolphins who came out to escort our boat. showing off, maybe, but they were able to easily keep up and it really looked like they were playing with us and the whole situation.

obviously intelligent, obviously playful.

XxAxX said:

and quite often put humans to shame!

jami0mckay said:

i wanted to jump overboard and swim with them

XxAxX said:

I tried that once with badgers.

jami0mckay said:

i'm going back to do it again. want to see more dolphins

jami0mckay said:

And now I read it as

NJ dolphin rescues beached whales

JustErin said:

this threads taking attention away from the LOST one

XxAxX said:

so do I

dolphins...solving nautical problems one whale at the time...

they're like the Richard Simmons of the sea...except they save fat stranded whales instead of fat stranded people...

roodboi said:

And they look better in sequined short shorts.

JustErin said:

I hate whales that wear speedos...

roodboi said:

Then why do you wear them?

Ba doom tis!

JustErin said:

:crickets:

What I find most surprising is that something from New Zealand knew where the hell it was going....