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Wow. Neato !

I can't imagine the fear he must have felt before actually seeing that they were dolphins around him and not sharks.

As Neato as it is, I can't help but feel unimpressed. Dolphins are (apparently) friendly. When will a group of Box Jellyfish make an attempt to ave someone's life ? lol

Or a giant squid ?

Its always the cute ones :p

Actually boaby, dolphins are not nice. Lots of people have been bitten because they think they're cute.

I think it's AMAZING that a group of wild animals did this.

Floating for 24 hours, could lead to hallucinations, and the guy clearly loved dolphins, all I'm saying...

I don't think that he was hallucinating, but I also don't think that they were intentionally helping him. They were probably playing, and accidentally pushed him close enough to the shore that the surf pulled him to the beach.

Actually, the story I heard was that the dolphins stuck their heads out of the water, squeeked "You're gonna die", and swam away, laughing.

Seriously, the story is goofy enough without the whales. But having whales join in the rescue party sounds like some story a 8-year-old would make up. Why not have some flying unicorns thrown in as well?

i wasn't too surprised by the story. you guys obviously haven't lived in the tropical islands before. dolphins and whales are brilliantly intelligent creatures.

Sounds "fishy" to me. He obviously has a bias towards dolphins, that's his job. I'll say he made it up to garner support for the dolphins.

D-san, probably, but if it does help, then great.

Dolphins AND whales? Working together to save some strange looking thing? Pretty amazing if true..what the hell is going on in our oceans? I bet there's some sort of marine govt structure we don't know about.

Remember that dolphins have echolocation as a primary sense, so their perception of the world is something not unlike an x-ray scan. In that modality, we probably seem strangely dolphin-like to them.

With all the skepticism, wouldnt it be absolutely awesome if that story was true?

"Dabal is a part-time dolphin warden for the bay."

So he has absolutely nothing to gain from increased tourism there?

recomended reading - Fluke or I know why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore

Douglas Adams was right. Now we have proof of their superior intellects and teamwork skills. Too bad no one seems to believe the one eye witness.

Mr Jones, unicorns don't fly.

And if the dolphins thought he was another dolphin, that would be a pretty mean thing to do, pushing him towards the land. Bastards.

Smells fishy to me.

I have to believe its possable.. I mean, we want to find intelegent life on other planets. But what about right here.

I can vouch for the dolphins and whales to being intelligent. When we lived near Big Sur in CA, my mom used to take me and my siblings to the beach. Sometimes really early in the morning, we'd go when no one was around and she'd play her pan pipes. Next thing a pod would show up and we'd swim with them! They can in fairly close to the shore, they didn't have to come over but they did. And they seemed to like the sound of the pan pipes too.
When we visited some family in Haiti, I was a lot older and could join my mom & older sister when they went snorkling. There were some dolphins there that came around and watched us, they seemed to like my mom. She had this little harp like thing that she would play under the water. They really liked it, but I couldn't hear a thing.
We even had a small whale show up once and it really was a bit scary cause he looked big as a bus to me! My mom told me later he wasn't all that big. So I have some great memories of living by the oceans.
Too bad things have changed so much over the years. It's sad how so many parts of the ocean are dying, or sick due to pollution and climate changes.
Me? I believe the guy!

Good God you skeptics, stories of dolphins saving humans in the water have been around since the times of the ancient Greeks, not to mention World War II in the Pacific. Catch up with the times already!

If they were just "playing" by pushing this guy close enough to shore for the surf to carry him in, then I hope many more of us learn to "play" that way.

I dunno, I've swam eye to eye with ("wild") dolphins far too many times to be able to doubt this story.

While vacationing on the outer banks of North Carolina a rip current developed at the beach where I was swimming. There were more than a dozen children who became panicked, more than the Lifeguards could assist. People were being pulled under and down along the bottom, and then they struggled to regain the surface. This was extremely tiring, and getting nowhere. After about fifteen minutes of continuous struggle to bring people to shore the Lifeguards were getting worn out. Then several Dolphins appeared and began nudging smaller people and children toward shore. They helped at least five people that I saw. Then the rip current subsided and the Dolphins left. People began packing and leaving the beach, relieved to be safe and afraid to go in the water any further that day.

its sounds like a few of these people have never been to sea world. they must be very simple people

Actually... this is not an unusual story... they showed on Animal Planet the other day a story about a man and his family being actually protected by a pod of dolphins from sharks... it was amazing.

This is not what actually happened. I was there. I was disguised as the styrofoam. I saw it all. The guy drowned. The dolphins performed CPR on him and brought him back to life. The whales then escorted him to shore, gave him $20 spending money and told him not to tell the Japanese where they were.

This is not unusual. Dolphins are highly intelligent, and they probably do know this guy has been helping them. Didnt that little guy, Elian Gonzalez have the same experience with the dolphins keeping the sharks from eating him??

all i gotta say is tuna sandwich any1

If the story is true, it is obvious that the Lord of the sea and of the universe has a hand in it for a purpose that we may never be aware of.

I find it disheartening that there are millions of people that live such self centered crappy lives that they have lost all hope and belief in the amazing creations of this world.
I do believe this story. Not because I have had a similar experience but because that man works every day to keep their lives safe. Dolphins as well as whales are extremely intelligent. I am sure they know exactly who is just by sure presence.
SO maybe those that have made such harsh comments about this story should step outside their box and quit being so cynical

reminds me of the time winged angels rescued me, and I swear it wasnt the acid

Stan: Dude!!! Dolphins are beautiful and intelligent.

Cartman: Yeah, beautiful and intelligent on rye bread with some mayonaise.

Dolphin appears to guide whales to sea

By RAY LILLEY, Associated Press Writer
March 1, 2008

Most days, Moko the bottlenosed dolphin swims playfully with humans at a New Zealand beach. But this week, it seems, Moko found his mojo. Witnesses described Wednesday how they saw the dolphin swim up to two stranded whales and guide them to safety.

Before Moko arrived, rescue workers had been working for more than an hour to get two pygmy sperm whales, a mother and her calf, back out to sea after they were stranded Monday off Mahia Beach, said Conservation Department worker Malcolm Smith.

But Smith said the whales restranded themselves four times on a sandbar slightly out to sea from the beach, about 300 miles northeast of the capital, Wellington. It looked likely they would have to be euthanized to prevent a prolonged death, he said.

"They kept getting disorientated and stranding again," said Smith, who was among the rescuers. "They obviously couldn't find their way back past (the sandbar) to the sea."

Then along came Moko, who approached the whales and appeared to lead them as they swam 200 yards along the beach and through a channel out to the open sea.

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

Anton van Helden, a marine mammals expert at New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, said the reports of Moko's rescue were "fantastic" but believable because the dolphins have "a great capacity for altruistic activities."

These included evidence of dolphins protecting people lost at sea, and their playfulness with other animals.

"But it's the first time I've heard of an inter-species refloating technique. I think that's wonderful," said van Helden, who was not involved in the rescue but spoke afterward to Smith.

the dolphins apparently know who to save. to the cynics, maybe the sharks are your friends.

Dolphins are dolphins. They do not rationalize. People do. They're there to help amidst the noise of people's rationalization....

cool :D That story will go a long way..

He should keep doing what he's doing.. "helping save marine life"

pure crap!!! dolphins and whales don't get along in the wild!!!

I'm gay.

What a wonderful story, who really cares is they really saved him(though I do believe him)? It's just great that the man did not drown!! What is wrong with you people?