Thursday, March 13, 2008

This dolphin is awesome

This story is just awesome.

Two whales had stranded themselves behind a sandbar along a beach in New Zealand. They repeatedly tried to get over it, but the tide was going out and they were getting ever more distressed and exhausted. It looked bleak enough that conservation authorities were considering euthanasia. Beached whale usually suffocate under their own weight if they're out of the water for very long.

Along comes a white knight, or in this case, a dolphin. It somehow managed to communicate with the whales and got them to follow it down the beach a ways to an opening in the sandbar and back out to sea.

The whales are apparently safe, as there has been no further sign of them. The dolphin was already a popular sight at the beach since he has a history of playing with swimmers, but he's now a hero to boot.

1 comment:

Grandpa Phil said...

Too often I've run into business consultants who preach the gospel of "survival of the fittest". I'm always interested in the many instances of natural cooperation between species.

Even Gus saved some nestlings when he brought them to my attention in our backyard in Arlington.