Four years ago five new Zealand life guards were on a training swim about 300 feet from shore when they were surrounded by a pod of dolphins. The lifeguards were confused by the behavior of the dolphins, who were quite close to the swimmers, and who would veer away
only to come back. The dolphins also slapped their
tails against the water surface creating a bit of
chaos.
At the time the lifeguards were worried that they’d be
run into or even attacked by the dolphins, but it
turns out that the dolphins had made a conscious
choice to protect the swimmers from a shark attack.
Balling up, tight circling and slapping tails,
scientists say, is typical dolphin behavior for
warding off sharks.
“The dolphins had to infer that these people were in
danger and consciously make a decision to act upon
that they put themselves at risk to help the people
and that's pure altruism,” says Professor Lori Marino,
a marine biologist.
read more and see a video at NZ TV3
