dolphins protect human swimmers

November 23, 2004 9:33 AM

dolphins protect human swimmers
"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."
posted by specialk420 (73 comments total)

I, for one, welcome our... aw nevermind...
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:35 AM on November 23, 2004

...loyal and tasty!
posted by mervin_shnegwood at 9:36 AM on November 23, 2004

Dolphins are cool.
posted by glenwood at 9:38 AM on November 23, 2004

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

I suspect the dolphins had actually corralled the swimmers to eat them, when luckilly, a great white shark came and scared off the bloodthirsty band of bottle-noses.
posted by tpl1212 at 9:42 AM on November 23, 2004

Isn't dolphin protection of humans from shark attack part of common knowledge? I've heard this since my days as a pouchling.
posted by Captaintripps at 9:45 AM on November 23, 2004

I am celebrating the occassion by having a tuna salad for lunch.
posted by flarbuse at 9:49 AM on November 23, 2004

tpl1212: hee hee! Best laugh today!

But back on-topic: a very quick Google turned up the following...

"This 'protective' behavior was cemented in the public's mind by the television series, 'Flipper'..." Heh.

and

"...the Journal of Commerce reported in 1997 that a man swimming in the Red Sea, off the Egyptian shore, was attacked by a shark. After he suffered bites to his side and arm, he was surrounded by three bottle-nosed dolphins "flapping their fins and tails to scare away the shark." The dolphins continued to circle the British swimmer until his friends got him." Interesting.
posted by davidmsc at 9:53 AM on November 23, 2004

"So long and thanks for all the fish."
posted by Krrrlson at 9:54 AM on November 23, 2004

I obviously like dolphins.
posted by echodolphin at 9:54 AM on November 23, 2004

This story has brightened my day.
posted by apis mellifera at 9:57 AM on November 23, 2004

In The Book of Lists 2 there's a fun section of dolphins and their protective behavior, including even such moments as dolphins leading boats away from treacherous rocks and whatnot. It's hard to believe at times, but awfully awesome.

I also remember a story about about sharks and dolphins sharing a tank somewhere. The shark was found several feet from the tank the next day. The dolphins had beat the shark up with their noses, and then chucked him out.

[this is cute]
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:04 AM on November 23, 2004

i hope this story gets a little play in japan
posted by specialk420 at 10:06 AM on November 23, 2004

Darn those dolphins! Where's the love for the sharks, man? Sharks have a right to eat people just as much as we have a right to eat sharks! Or something to that effect...
posted by Sharktattoo at 10:14 AM on November 23, 2004

Apparently dolphins can be good samaritans when they are not too busy killing porpoises, attacking scientists and committing infanticide.
posted by jellybuzz at 10:15 AM on November 23, 2004

could it be that dolphins have as much variation in attitude as humans?
posted by muppetboy at 10:18 AM on November 23, 2004

There's a weird sample chapter here from Carl Sagan. It details a flooded house for men and dolphins proposed by a friend, dolphins supposedly speaking English and a research assistant living for weeks in a partially flooded room with a male dolphin Peter. When Peter exhibited courting behaviour and wouldn't leave her alone, she ended up having to give him two to three hand jobs before he could "study."

Um...
posted by Captaintripps at 10:19 AM on November 23, 2004

pod of dolphins
Which family? Think it is Bottle Nose dolphins that have been researched having empathy(bottom of page).
posted by thomcatspike at 10:20 AM on November 23, 2004

I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes, just for one day

posted by rfs at 10:23 AM on November 23, 2004

jellybuzz: good links. There's a reason my (biologist) fiancee calls dolphins the assholes of the animal kingdom.
posted by schustafa at 10:24 AM on November 23, 2004

I'm going to guess you're kidding, jellybuzz, but you've definitely misrepresented this. All three of your links are regarding a single group of bottlenose dolphins in Scottland living in what is believed to be unique conditions.

The lede from your second link:

Scotland's only colony of bottlenose dolphins is becoming increasingly aggressive towards humans and marine mammals because a shortage of fish is forcing the animals into a fight for survival.

From your third link:

We do know that the bottlenose dolphins of the Moray Firth are a uniquely isolated population, living under considerable human pressure. Disturbance, resource limitation or other factors may well have precipitated unnatural behaviour.

posted by sequential at 10:26 AM on November 23, 2004

I am celebrating the occasion by having a tuna salad for lunch.

I'm gonna celebrate by going and getting a tattoo of dolphins on my ankle. Or maybe two dolphins encircling my navel. Or maybe both!
posted by mikrophon at 10:28 AM on November 23, 2004

How come when I read this I think about that specific Simpsons Halloween episode...
posted by grum@work at 10:31 AM on November 23, 2004

Apparently dolphins can be good samaritans when they are not too busy killing porpoises, attacking scientists and committing infanticide.

Kind of like humans.
posted by rdub at 10:41 AM on November 23, 2004

"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."

Typical MeFi secularist bias. It was clearly God working through the dolphins.

um. and the devil. working through the shark.

yeah.
posted by felix betachat at 10:42 AM on November 23, 2004

But the question that arises: How can we harness the power of the dolphin before the enemy does?
posted by dougunderscorenelso at 10:46 AM on November 23, 2004

Sure, dolphins sometimes go out of their way to save the lives of humans. But that's only fair, because after all, we humans are the ones who so helpfully detain and provide them with luxurious housing and free food in return for their performance of delightful daily tricks.
posted by soyjoy at 10:46 AM on November 23, 2004

because after all, we humans are the ones who so helpfully create - Orca.
posted by thomcatspike at 10:53 AM on November 23, 2004

I'd really like to see this somehow dissolve into pro-dolphin versus anti-dolphin bickering. Don't disappoint me, Metafilter. I didn't pay the site five dollars just so everyone could be happy and give dolphins hand jobs.
posted by Kleptophoria! at 10:57 AM on November 23, 2004

Holy shit
posted by ericost at 11:03 AM on November 23, 2004

Dolphins are the only animals, except for us, that have sex for leisure/pleasure. Sign of intelligence?
posted by echodolphin at 11:08 AM on November 23, 2004

Snorky...talk...man!
posted by davidmsc at 11:11 AM on November 23, 2004

"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.

I wonder if this is good natured ribbing from a Kiwi reporter or assholery from a patronizing Reuters editor.
posted by stavrogin at 11:15 AM on November 23, 2004

Dolphins are the only animals, except for us, that have sex for leisure/pleasure.

So dogs hump our legs for... exercise?
posted by callmejay at 11:17 AM on November 23, 2004

Isn't that why we loved Flipper so much?
posted by Gooney at 11:18 AM on November 23, 2004

Why would dolphins want to help dumb creatures like us?
posted by gyc at 11:19 AM on November 23, 2004

I'd really like to see this somehow dissolve into pro-dolphin versus anti-dolphin bickering
how about dolphin versus porpoise.
posted by thomcatspike at 11:19 AM on November 23, 2004

I dunno about that one echodolphin, what about bonobo monkeys, they have their fair share of.. can't resist... monkey business.
posted by eurasian at 11:23 AM on November 23, 2004

Stavrogin-
this is strangely odd (other than the normal odd)

but i am new to metafilter and I was perusing people close to me by zip code and you are the only other person in the 2170* area...and the weirderer thing is that I was trying to see if you actually post on this board anymore...
and loandfuckingbehold, you are right there. (and i was doing this no less than 15 minutes ago)

Synchronicities Abound!

btw, some cultures are descedants from dolphins (who once inhabited Sirius B, I believe, of the star cluster known as the Pleadies)...anyone follow?
posted by mic stand at 11:26 AM on November 23, 2004

Captaintripps - wow. Interesting story - could have been an FPP on its own. I can't imagine my job description involving giving dolphins handjobs. Especially since "dolphin libidos being what they are, this had to be repeated two or three times".
posted by widdershins at 11:30 AM on November 23, 2004

Well, can we debate the absolute beauty and power of sharks? How perfect they are, how elegant, how they have remained relatively unchanged for millions of years.

You'll never see sharks jumping through hoops or balancing people on their nose.

And I'm going to celebrate by getting more shark tattoos.
posted by Sharktattoo at 11:32 AM on November 23, 2004

I'm going to celebrate by shooting some hunters!


Oh, wait...wrong thread....
posted by spicynuts at 11:51 AM on November 23, 2004

I hate dolphins and the idiots who profess to like them. Dolphins voted for W. Dolphins pray to Jesus god every night before they burn crosses on the coral reefs where the porpoises live. Stupid sexy dolphins!
posted by Debaser626 at 11:56 AM on November 23, 2004

Peggy Noonan, conservative op-ed columnist and former Reagan speechwriter, said that dolphins sent by God saved Elian Gonzalez' life.

They supposedly protected him from sharks... who, presumably, were sent by Satan.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 12:06 PM on November 23, 2004

widdershins: One could probably make several FPPs about Sagan. He was smart, weird, cooky and had an interest in just about everything. He's like the actual scientist version of Erich von Daniken or Danakin Skywalker, as I like to call him.

He doesn't spout any of that dolphins are man evolved nonsense, unfortunately.
posted by Captaintripps at 12:14 PM on November 23, 2004

Dolphins are the only animals, except for us, that have sex for leisure/pleasure. Sign of intelligence?
Hahaha. Have you ever seen Dolphins mate? It's more like gang-rape (in fact, that's exactly what it is). A pack (pod?) of males hunt a lone female, chasing her until she tires out and can't swim away from them anymore. Then the males take turns mating with her while the other males hold her in place.

I don't know if they have sex for leisure/pleasure outside of their procreating behavior, but the way in which they mate is certainly not one that humans should (IMHO) be holding up as an ideal. You are free to debate whether it indicates a degree of sophistication/evolution or not.
posted by Four Flavors at 12:14 PM on November 23, 2004

What about the rest of the people in the raft? I guess they weren't worthy? I love God people... I like to imagine them naked when they talk.
posted by Debaser626 at 12:15 PM on November 23, 2004

Are NZ dolphins allowed to sue?
posted by homunculus at 12:17 PM on November 23, 2004

It's Reuters rewrite - we're metricated here, mate.

See the story from the New Zealand Herald, complete with photo of lifeguard holding a float labelled "lifeguard", just in case you didn't quite follow.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:27 PM on November 23, 2004

I don't go anywhere without my protective pod of dolphins.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 12:36 PM on November 23, 2004

He dived out of the boat to join the group and also saw the great white.
Bet he will now think twice before diving in.
posted by thomcatspike at 12:42 PM on November 23, 2004

PS: that link to the Herald has a story about twice as long.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:49 PM on November 23, 2004

Yeah... Fuzzy.... Everyone needs a dPod.... You should market that.
posted by Debaser626 at 12:56 PM on November 23, 2004

Apparently dolphins can be good samaritans when they are not too busy killing porpoises, attacking scientists and committing infanticide.

I notice all of these incidents you posted refer to a single community of bottlenose dolphins in the Moray Firth off the coast of Scotland. You live in freezing cold waters, your food reserves have been cut in half due to overfishing (warning: PDF), your neighbours have their eyes on the same food resources, you have starving infant mouths to feed. What you going to do? Call the Salvation Army?
posted by DirtyCreature at 1:11 PM on November 23, 2004

dolphins make cool toys, too. more pics here.
posted by exlotuseater at 1:23 PM on November 23, 2004

Quite right, DirtyCreature. And personally, I dig dolphins (although not so much the rough sex part) and like to believe the notorious Moray Firth bottleneck group's behavior is solely about certain unique environmental pressures including competition for scarce food. Still... as one naturalist quoted by the BBC here said, "Swim with dolphins? Forget it. Your wouldn't ask me to cuddle a lion, would you?
posted by jellybuzz at 1:35 PM on November 23, 2004

Apparently dolphins can be good samaritans when they are not too busy killing porpoises, attacking scientists and committing infanticide.

One explanation for this behaviour may be a reaction to seismic activity (Oil exploration.)
At close quarters high pressure air guns can damage body tissues and cause Gross damage to ears including Permanent threshold shift (1.5 Mb PDF)

Sound pressure levels are strongly attenuated as the distance from the source increases. Sound pressure levels that may cause physical damage can only be observed within a few metres from the source, but the annoyance level may extend over many Km.

Good Practice Guidelines for Seismic operators (PDF)
posted by Lanark at 1:37 PM on November 23, 2004

You wouldn't ask me to cuddle a lion, would you?

Perhaps not but then again it appears to me you wouldn't hug your own house cat after discovering his true underlying terrorist-sympathising nature either.
posted by DirtyCreature at 2:16 PM on November 23, 2004

IIRC, a diver was prosecuted for wanking off a dolphin in the North Sea a few years ago. I can't remember the precise nature of the charges laid against him.
posted by biffa at 2:26 PM on November 23, 2004

Having sex with dolphins

Mostly text, so your call about work-safeness. (For god's sake don't follow the advice if you want to not get your entrails ripped out.)
posted by Tlogmer at 2:31 PM on November 23, 2004

Dolphins are killing our soldiers in Iraq.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:38 PM on November 23, 2004

"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.

I wonder if this is good natured ribbing from a Kiwi reporter or assholery from a patronizing Reuters editor.

Either way, you'd think he'd realize that 2 meters is closer to 7 feet than it is to 6. Stupid International System of Units.
posted by trharlan at 2:51 PM on November 23, 2004

I suspect the dolphins had actually corralled the swimmers to eat them

or perhaps not...

"It seems that the male bottle-nosed dolphins are in the habit of forming rather vicious gangs of three or more members. They work in concert to capture females of their species by chasing the smaller and weaker gals, thudding up against them, biting the damsels and then mating with them. In addition, the gangs often carry out their raids to capture the females of other male bottle-nosed-dolphin gangs, resulting in fights that can be pretty grim indeed -- and the gangs stay together for as long as 12 years."

"Rape, even gang rape, is not unknown among other wild animals. But dolphins have perfected the practice. The team doing the herding is often shadowed at some distance by another. If outsiders try to steal the first team's victim, the back-up group will come to the rescue - not of the female, but of their male friends."

posted by UbuRoivas at 3:22 PM on November 23, 2004

From the NZ Herald: The only reason he went public was "I didn't want anyone to get chomped [by the shark], so I couldn't be accused of not having made people aware there was a shark out there".

From stuff.co.nz: The incident happened on October 30, but Mr Howes said he had kept the story to himself till now because he did not want the great white to be hunted.

Come on, man! Where do your loyalties lie?! Are you with us or with the sharks?!
posted by tracicle at 4:12 PM on November 23, 2004

Dolphins are the only animals, except for us, that have sex for leisure/pleasure.

Argh! I hate this stupid, false meme. Lots of animals have "sex for pleasure". A considerable number of primates masturbate, for example.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 5:19 PM on November 23, 2004

I didn't mean to be so rude to you echodolphin—please accept my apology. But that meme feeds all sorts of anthropocentric and very chauvinist ideas that I very strongly oppose.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 5:41 PM on November 23, 2004

My girlfriend and I, while perusing the animal dildo site together, both agreed that if we had to pick an animal to have sex with, it would be a dolphin. As it turned out, we both seemed to have more than a mere willingness to boink a bottlenose. Actually it was kind of a hot conversation. Sex with dolphins is not unheard of, anyway. We didn't discuss specifically how we would integrate it into our relationship, which is not an open one, but we're about to go on a snorkel adventure vacation in Mexico next month. I guess we'll see if anything happens. How do you sex a dolphin, anyway? I can barely tell a cat's sex in broad daylight. Is there any way for me to tell, other than its commencing to fuck me in the ass?
posted by scarabic at 5:44 PM on November 23, 2004

Dolphins are the only animals, except for us, that have sex for leisure/pleasure.

Ahem.
posted by homunculus at 6:28 PM on November 23, 2004

scarabic, you might want to run "yiffing" and "furry" through a few Google Image Searches. There are also message boards to help you think through this sort of thing.

It's okay, we're not alone in sharing this--I mean, you're not alone. Oh fuck.
posted by Kleptophoria! at 8:05 PM on November 23, 2004

...or then again, you might not.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 10:36 PM on November 23, 2004

One could probably make several FPPs about Sagan. He was smart, weird, kooky and had an interest in just about everything.

Carl Sagan is my favorite example of how the recreational use of a certain herb does not decrease motivation, as the Minions of Darkness (tm) would have us believe.

No wonder he got strange ideas. I know that if I'm in a shower with a naked, soapy woman, "origins and invalidities of racism in terms of gaussian distribution curves" is usually not the first thing that comes to mind.

Come to think of it, it is probably those strange ideas that have the Minions worried.
posted by Enron Hubbard at 4:11 AM on November 24, 2004

One could probably make several FPPs about Sagan. He was smart, weird, kooky and had an interest in just about everything.

Carl Sagan is my favorite example of how the recreational use of a certain herb does not decrease motivation, as the Minions of Darkness (tm) would have us believe.

No wonder he got strange ideas. I know that if I'm in a shower with a naked, soapy woman, "origins and invalidities of racism in terms of gaussian distribution curves" is not the first thing that comes to mind.

Come to think of it, it is probably those strange ideas that have the Minions worried.
posted by Enron Hubbard at 4:11 AM on November 24, 2004

I think you just suffered a loss of short term memory. (double post)...
posted by buddhanarchist at 5:33 AM on November 24, 2004

Poachers kill 'dolphins that saved swimmers'
posted by homunculus at 3:29 AM on November 28, 2004