Altruistic Dolphins Help Seal Find Its Way Back To Sea

A lone seal pup found itself in a tricky situation when it floated into shallow waters near a beach. Though it tried to swim away from the shore, the strong current inhibited its progress.

Luckily, a group of dolphins swimming nearby arrived to help the young seal and gently nudged it in the right direction. The benevolent act, captured on film by Canadian nature channel Oasis HD, is just another example of the “mysterious altruistic behavior that dolphins are known to show to other animals,” the narratorexplains in the video clip (seen above).

Indeed, dolphins have a history of doing good deeds for other marine animals outside their species.

In 2008, when rescuers failed to save two sperm whales stranded on a sandbar , a bottlenose dolphin named Moko intervened and led the mother and calf back to sea.

“Moko just came flying through the water and pushed in between us and the whales,” rescuer Juanita Symes told the Associated Press. “She got them to head toward the hill, where the channel is. It was an amazing experience.”

Interestingly, dolphins have also been known to lend a hand (er, flipper) to humans in need. In 2007, surfer Todd Endris survived a shark attack, thanks to a pod of dolphins that formed a protective ring around the surfer and helped him safely to shore.

Similarly, three men who were lost at sea after their fishing boat capsized also cited the mammals as their saviors. In an April 2012 segment of Biography Channel’s “I Survived,” the men retold their tale of how several dolphins came to their sides and ran off a pack of circling sharks.

While dolphins are vastly different from humans, they share more similarities with people than we might think.

According to Emory University’s Lori Marino, a neuroscientist who specializes in dolphin research, dolphins are similar to apes and monkeys when it comes to intelligence, social behavior and communications. Marino told the Associated Press that, though dolphins differ from humans on a neurological level, “the more you learn about them, the more you realize that they do have the capacity and characteristics that we think of when we think of a person.”

goodstuffhappenedtoday:

Sperm Whales Adopt A Dolphin With Spine Deformity

ScienceNow is reporting that marine biologists working in the Azorean archipelago of the Northern Atlantic have discovered a group of sperm whales who appear to have taken in an adult bottlenose dolphin who has a rather serious spinal malformation. And it wasn’t just a one-time encounter for the two species; the dolphin appears to be sticking around.

Other than the ‘S’ shape curvature to its body, the dolphin appears to be healthy. The researchers have virtually no way of knowing if the deformity has anything to do with the unprecedented inter-species co-mingling — though they suspect that it does.

Dolphins are a hierarchical species, so they may have shunned this particular member on account of its serious birth defect. In the words of one of the researchers, Alexander Wilson, “It might be that this individual didn’t fit in, so to speak, with its original group.” Or maybe it just couldn’t keep up. For now, however, this will all have to remain speculative thinking.

Read More.

nbcnews:

Kriss Kringle feeds dolphins in Japan

(Photo: Yuriko Nakao / Reuters)

A diver dressed as Santa Claus swims with a dolphin at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama, Japan, Nov. 27, 2012. The underwater feeding session involving divers dressed as Santa will take place every day until Christmas.

Bolivian President Evo Morales has enacted a law aimed at protecting a unique species of dolphins that live in the country’s Amazon rivers.

The new legislation bans fishing freshwater pink dolphins and declares the species a national treasure.

At a ceremony along the shores of the Ibare river, President Morales called on the armed forces to protect the habitats of the pink dolphins

The species is threatened by erosion, pollution and logging in the Amazon.

The Bolivian pink dolphin, whose scientific name is Inia boliviensis, is similar to mammals found in neighbouring Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.

Male Bolivian freshwater pink dolphins can weigh up to 200kg (440 pounds).

An appendix to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (Cites) says the species is vulnerable because of overfishing in the Amazon basin.

But it says the main threat is the contamination of rivers in the region by mercury, used in illegal gold mining operations.

Beauly Firth bottlenose dolphin numbers ‘best in years’

Twenty individuals, including seven calves, were counted on Tuesday in the Beauly Firth and Kessock Channel, near Inverness.

Charlie Phillips, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), has been monitoring numbers for years.

He said the animals were likely to be following a good run of salmon.

Mr Phillips said: “I haven’t counted that many dolphins here for nearly 15 years.

“Let’s hope this dolphin trend continues.”

Entering the channel and Beauly Firth from the Moray Firth and the North Sea, the bottlenose dolphins are from the world’s most northerly resident population of the species.

Almost 200 dolphins are found in the North Sea and the animals are frequently seen in the Moray Firth.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), which commissions a report on the health of the population every six years, said in May the population was stable and could even be increasing.

Dolphin and seal are underwater BFFs

Jet the dolphin and Miri the seal are two friends who can’t wait to “sea” one another.

According to the UK press agency Rex Features, the pair live at the Pet Porpoise Pool Marine Park in Coffs Harbour, Australia and have been inseparable since they were only two months old. They love nothing better than playing together and can often be spotted chasing each other around the pool in a game of tag.

Pool specialist Amy Carter told the agency, “They struck up a friendship really early on as they are the youngest. If Jet sees Miri going past he sticks his head out of the pool to say ‘hi’ and they make noises to each other.” According to Amy, it is unlikely the pair would be friends in the wild because they would be competing for fish.

A wayward dolphin that spent more than a week in a Southern California wetlands channel has made its way back to sea.

Marine mammal rescue specialist Peter Wallerstein says a volunteer watched the dolphin leave the Bolsa Chica wetlands and swim into adjacent Huntington Harbour on Friday. It hasn’t been seen since.

The 5-foot-long, 250-pound common dolphin was spotted circling in the shallow waters of Bolsa Chica on April 27. Experts said it appeared healthy and may have entered the channel while chasing fish.

A day after it was spotted, the animal was coaxed toward the ocean but apparently became spooked by a pair of fellow dolphins and swam back into the channel.

However, Wallerstein says the dolphin has now left – and he thinks it will do just fine.

Hector’s dolphins living off the coast of Christchurch, New Zealand have benefited from the area’s special designation, say scientists.

Researchers studied the animals, one of the world’s most endangered species of dolphin, for 21 years.

Their results show that the survival rate of the dolphins has increased by 5.4% since the Marine Protection Area (MPA) was declared.

The findings are published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

“This is the first evidence that Marine Protected Areas can be effective for marine mammals. We found a significant improvement in the survival rate,” said Dr Liz Slooten from the University of Otago who undertook the research.

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Stars honor dolphin savior Ric O’Barry

Environmentally minded celebrities including Ed Begley Jr., Sophia Bush and Michelle Rodriguez gathered at a private home in the Hollywood Hills to honor activist Ric O’Barry and his Earth Island Institute’s Dolphin Project at a benefit aiming to raise awareness and funds to fight the dolphin hunts in Japan and anywhere dolphins and whales are threatened.

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thedailywhat:

Save The Dolphins of the Day: When 30 dolphins suddenly became stranded on a beach in the Brazilian city of Arraial do Cabo, beachgoers rushed to help and happily managed to save every last one.

Hooray for humans!

Perhaps now the dolphins will think twice before abandoning us to face the mindless bureaucracy of the Vogons.

[thd.]

New sanctuaries declared for Asia’s freshwater dolphins

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Bangladesh is declaring three areas in the southern Sundarbans mangrove forest as dolphin sanctuaries to protect freshwater dolphins

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True story of Florida dolphin inspired Hollywood film

The film is based on the story of a dolphin named Winter and its convalescence after its near-fatal encounter with a crabbing net.

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Marine scientists in Australia have discovered a new species of dolphin living in the waters off one of the country’s biggest cities.

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Dolphins in one western Australian population have been observed holding a large conch shell in their beaks and using it to shake a fish into their mouths — and the behavior may be spreading.

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