Dolphin Rescues Two Beached Whales

Flipper isn't the only life-saving dolphin: Earlier this week, a New Zealand dolphin named Moko saved the lives of two beached whales in a dramatic rescue.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on March 13 2008

They’re the star performers at Sea World, bouncing balls off their snouts, doing backflips, and showing off an array of other mindblowing stunts in exchange for a single piece of fish. It’s impossible to watch an episode of Flipper without smiling at its sea-worthy hero. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ve even had the chance to take a dive with one of these friendly finned sea creatures.

Everybody loves a dolphin, and for good reason: They’re smart, friendly, skilled performers, and always willing to help their human pals out of a jam. But it seems that they’re also quite the saviors when it comes to other marine life, too: Earlier this week, a bottlenose dolphin named Moko led a dramatic rescue mission on a New Zealand beach.

A mother pygmy sperm whale and her calf had gotten beached, and humans had spent an hour and a half attempting to send them back to sea with no success. The whales were distressed, and the people were about to give up. Sadly, it seemed like the only humane option would be to euthanize the whales.

Luckily, Moko showed up in the nick of time, and knew just how to save the whales. “I don’t speak whale and I don’t speak dolphin,” conservation officer Malcolm Smith told BBC News, “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.”

In mere minutes, the crisis had been averted, thanks to Moko’s swift action. Though the whales seem to have learned their lesson and have been avoiding the shoreline since their near miss, Moko’s already stopped back to visit with her grateful human pals.

“I shouldn’t do this I know, we are meant to remain scientific,” 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.”

Filed under: Animals and Pets, General Interest, Heroes,

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