Dolphins protect NZ swimmers

Now for some lighter news:

news.bbc.co.uk...

Its not the first time this has been documented or reported but it warms my heart every single time


Go little Dolphin buddies !!!

Someone post about something other then war and destruction.

Yes, there have been other documentation of this, but it is still nice to hear about these things.

Good post.

Cheers for the compiment...

Makes me all warm and fuzzy...

Cross-species solidarity? It's right here!

I love this story; thanks for posting, Corinthas.

That should be 'Front Page News' for sure!! Let's hear it for our Brothers & Sisters of the Sea!!

I've decided to dedicate some time to The Beloved Dolphins who we as Humans most often take for granted in our pursuit of becoming Masters of Our Own Ego Driven Lives. Please take a moment and think about these following Interesting Dolphin Facts:

1.) Dolphins have a cerebral cortex which is about 40% larger than a human being's. Their cortex is also stratified in much the same way as a humans. The frontal lobe of dolphins is also developed to a level comparable to humans. In addition the parietal lobe of dolphins which "makes sense of the senses" is larger than the human parietal and frontal lobes combined.

2.) The primate brain favors the motor cortex, while the cetaceans greatly favor the sensory region. In certain areas of the brain concerned with "emotional control, objectivity, reality orientation, humor, logically consistent abstract thought and higher creativity" dolphins have an higher ratio of neural density. This seems to be correlated with dolphins ability to maintain a healthy emotional state while in captivity; humans in analogous situations often don't fair as well emotionally.

3.) It is common to say that a dolphin is not as smart as a human because it doesn't use tools, but using this definition of intelligence it would also be valid to say that humans are not as smart as dolphins because they can't examine the internal organs of their other group members using natural ultrasound. (Yah, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it buddy!! )

4.) Researchers have found that dolphins have more in common with us genetically than cows, horses or pigs. "The extent of the genetic similarity came as a real surprise to us," says David Busbee of Texas A&M University. Busbee the similarities and differences will reveal how long ago humans and dolphins branched off the evolutionary tree. Researchers at Texas A&M University applied "paints," or fluorescently labeled human chromosomes, to dolphin chromosomes, and found that 13 of 22 dolphin chromosomes were exactly the same as human chromosomes. Of the remaining nine dolphin chromosomes, many were combinations or rearrangements of their human counterparts.

5.) Fourteen years of multidisciplinary study at this arm of the Human-Dolphin Foundation indicates that The dolphin�s acoustic and electromagnetic effects on the human body through DNA may best explain how extraordinary healings, often reported by swimmers following dolphin contacts, have occurred. DNA is activated, new research shows, by waves and particles of energized sound and light which, more than chemicals or drugs, switch genes "on" or "off."

6.) The most frequent position during copulating humans is face to face. The only position of copulation for dolphins is face to face. Dolphins, like humans, have sex even when they are not in heat which is unusual in the animal kingdom.

7.) In humans, birth is painful and often difficult because the infant's head - from the frontal lobes to the back - is larger than the mother's pelvic floor. The shoulders are larger, too, making it necessary for the baby to advance through the birth canal in a spiral motion in order to come out. Dolphin infants also spiral out through the birth canal.

8.) Biochemicaly, dolphins are still land mammals living in a marine environment.

9.) "The original sin was gravity and that we will only achieve redemption when we return to the water - as cetaceans did long ago." ~ Jacques Cousteau

I luuurve dolphins, Ive been lucky enough to swim with them 3times in my life. Twice I had visited tourist centres with a handicapped friend of mine, (it was her lifes dream to swim with these beautiful creatures). The other time was when I was diving from a cruise I had taken in and around the carribean. I was maybe 2metres from the surface when a skool of dolphins, Im not sure what type, came to play with me and over 30 other divers in the area, they are such sweet and tender animals, I'll never forget 1 of them rubbing its beak like mouth into my hands and Ive never been in such close contact with any animal in this way before. Its just a shame that the dolphins can be so altruistic when us supposedly "intelligent" being find it so hard. Peace and love2 all dolphins and dolphin lovers.

Stupid creatures........

Don't they realise that humans are evil, malicious, thoughtless purveyors of death and destruction and must be destroyed at every opportunity?

The shark was only trying to do it's wee bit to help save the planet

Originally posted by Essan
Stupid creatures........

Don't they realise that humans are evil, malicious, thoughtless purveyors of death and destruction and must be destroyed at every opportunity?

The shark was only trying to do it's wee bit to help save the planet

There is that way of looking at it too... but if they thought like that they'd be as bad as us...

Poor shark though.. getting bad press all the time.. he was only following his instincts after all...

and then we take the dolphins and turn them into mine hunters.

There are tons of stories like this. I read a book about a solo race around the world (sailing) where one guy was headed straight for a reef when a pod started jumping around in front of his boat. They blocked his path so he sailed around them only to realize that they were chasing him off a very shallow reef.


My parents were sailing in the carib. and their dinghy broke loose. A pod of dolphins alerted them to the soon to be lost boat.


sadly, we never hear about the dolphins with frickin laser beams.

Oh yeah? Well if dolphins are so smart then howcome they live in igloos?

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
Oh yeah? Well if dolphins are so smart then howcome they live in igloos?

It's not their fault they live in igloo's. They're one of the only Aquatic Birds that can't fly!! Also, the igloo traps in what little heat which the dolphins need to survive since they are cold blooded!!

The best thing about them though is that when they stay on land long enough to become dry their tails turn into legs so that they are able to walk around on land!! (There was a movie named Splash that mentioned something similar to that I think?!?!)