Play Time

"Play Time"

 

Dolphins love to play with each other and have fun.  Dolphins even enjoy chasing bubbles.  They enjoy being with their family, and a dolphin family will sometimes save people from sharks.  Here is a story you will not want to miss out on.

 

It takes place around the coast of New Zealand in October 2004.  There were three student lifeguards who went for a swim with their instructor.  Lifeguard Rob Howes said they were going for a 100-meter swim off the coast of Ocean Beach near Hangar on the North Island.  One of the students had a small cut on her leg and it was just enough blood to attract sharks.  Rob was a little unnerved when the dolphins came in at such a quick speed.  He and the students were wondering if the dolphins were being aggressive toward them.  They were swimming around the lifeguards in a tight circle and yet in an aggressive manner. 

 

The dolphins bunched the four swimmers together by circling about 4-8 centimeters from them, slapping the water with their tails for about 40 minutes.

Howes said he swam away from the main group when an opening occurred. One large dolphin became agitated and submerged toward Howes, who turned to see where it would surface.  That was when Howes noticed the shark not too far away from them in the crystal clear waters.  It was then that he realized what was going on.  But he had now made it more difficult for the dolphins to protect them from his swimming away.  The shark then circled around Howes and he instinctively knew what it was.

When Howes saw the shark head toward the young women, including his 15-year-old daughter, he noticed that the dolphins went into hyperdrive.  All that could be seen were lots of dolphin backs and fins in a tight circle around the young women.  You could barely see the heads of the girls in the water.  The dolphins were probably trying to cause confusion.

 

The shark disappeared when the rescue boat came on the scene but the dolphins stayed close by while the swimmers made it to shore.  The women never saw the shark, because he stayed near the bottom of the ocean.  Howes said that he never told the women about what actually happened until the next day.  He also went to talk with dolphin experts on the behavior of the dolphins.  He found out that it is not uncommon for a dolphin to protect swimmers from danger. 

 

There are many documented cases of dolphins protecting swimmers.  Around that time of the year there were many sightings of the white sharks in the area because of the fact the sharks usually give birth to their young in that area. 

I actually saw that story on Animal Planet and enjoyed it.  Dolphins are very nice creatures and they are friends to swimmers in the ocean.