MSN: Mother dolphin mourns dead calf, swims with it for days

[brandymac27]

http://now.msn.com/mother-dolphin-carries-her-dead-calf

The animals around us are complex, feeling creatures that live rich lives full of emotion – even painful emotions like mourning. Anyone looking for evidence of this need not look any further than this video of a dolphin mother who swam with her dead calf on her back for days, mourning its passing. Tourists first spotted the mother off the coast of China, but when they were able to get a closer look, saw that the baby was in fact dead and had a large cut across its belly, most likely caused by a boat propeller. A local fisherman said the mother carried it day and night, never leaving its side.

Click Link for video:
http://now.msn.com/mother-dolphin-carries-her-dead-calf

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

How touchingly tragic. Poor, poor dolphin mom.

Hail.

[brandymac27]

How touchingly tragic. Poor, poor dolphin mom.

Hail.

I know. She just didn't want to let her baby go. Amazing how intelligent and emotional they really are.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

I know. She just didn't want to let her baby go. Amazing how intelligent and emotional they really are.

Dolphins are wondrous animals. Their so close to human intelligence it's unreal. Super smart. Super emotive. And in the main so placed in nature. I believe their the only creature outside of ourselves that have sex for pleasure and not just to reproduce too, to keep the human thing going.

It's REAL high on my bucket list to swim with them one day. They seem so playful and accepting in the water around humans it truly is a sight to behold.

Hail.

[brandymac27]

It's REAL high on my bucket list to swim with them one day. They seem so playful and accepting in the water around humans it truly is a sight to behold.

Hail.

I was lucky enough to have swam with them! They would swim right up to you without any fear and let you touch them. It was an amazing experience!

[youngchew]

Cue single tear. LOL

interesting story. poor momma dolph :(

[Yusuf06]

It's REAL high on my bucket list to swim with them one day. They seem so playful and accepting in the water around humans it truly is a sight to behold.
Well, let's hope you don't get a horny one. (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091225004556AARIHu4)

[HogNose]

:( Wow how sad but fascinating at the same time. Thanks for sharing.

[Koolblue13]

Dolphins are wondrous animals. Their so close to human intelligence it's unreal. Super smart. Super emotive. And in the main so placed in nature. I believe their the only creature outside of ourselves that have sex for pleasure and not just to reproduce too, to keep the human thing going.

It's REAL high on my bucket list to swim with them one day. They seem so playful and accepting in the water around humans it truly is a sight to behold.

Hail.

Don't do one of those "swim with the dolphins" things. Dolphins are as smart as we are and shouldn't be in prisons.

That said, Last Sunday there were dolphins swimming around with us. Almost knocked my girl off her paddle board. lol

[Chachie]

Well, let's hope you don't get a horny one. (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091225004556AARIHu4)




Wow, that is insane. Who'd have thought.

[KAOSkins]

Touching and very sad. Poor thing. I wonder how much anthropomorphising we really do?

Thinking about our relationships, as a species, with other species we deem intelligent is about the most depressing thing there is.

[Barney B]

Well, let's hope you don't get a horny one. (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091225004556AARIHu4)



Wow, that is insane. Who'd have thought.

In case anybody's really wondering, that story is entirely made up.

[brandymac27]

Don't do one of those "swim with the dolphins" things. Dolphins are as smart as we are and shouldn't be in prisons.

I didn't do that either and agree about them not being in captivity. I swam with them in the ocean (there were a bunch of them following my Aunt and Uncle's sailboat, so me and my sister decided to jump in the water with them :D). Dolphins are so friendly, they don't need to be in captivity to be studied and admired IMHO (but I'm completely biased as I LOVE anything that has to do with the ocean, being near it, and marine life-except maybe sharks lol). The experience was amazing!

[Skinz4Life12]

Very sad story. Dolphins are awesome and are one of the few mammals that are self aware I believe

[brandymac27]

http://www.dolphin-way.com/dolphins-%E2%80%93-the-facts/dolphins-helping-humans/

July 1996 – Associated Press

Martin Richardson, a Briton, was swimming in the Red Sea off Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula when he was attacked by a shark. Companions aboard a diving boat heard him scream.

“Something took a bite of my side,” Mr. Richardson, a 29-year-old diver, told The Associated Press by telephone from el-Tur on Wednesday. “I started panicking for a bit, then it took another chunk of my upper arm.”

Mr. Richardson’s companions then watched as three bottlenose dolphins encircled the wounded man, flapping their fins and tails and scaring off the shark.

“This defensive behaviour of dolphins is common when mothers are protecting their calves from predators,” said a statement by the Recanati Center for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel.

The statement said the dolphins continued to circle for several minutes until Mr. Richardson’s companions reached him.

Mr. Richardson was rushed to an Egyptian military hospital at el-Tur, 55 miles to the northwest. He recovered.



August 2000 – Daily Record – Scotland

A friendly dolphin has saved a teenage boy from drowning. Non-swimmer Davide Ceci, 14, was within minutes of death when dolphin Filippo came to his rescue.
The friendly 61-stone creature has been a popular tourist attraction off Manfredonia in south-east Italy for two years. But now he is a local hero after saving Davide from the Adriatic when he fell from his father’s boat.
While Emanuele Ceci was still unaware his son had fallen into the waves, Filippo was pushing him up out of the water to safety. Davide said: “When I realised it was Filippo pushing me, I grabbed on to him.” The dolphin bore down on the boat and got close enough for Davide’s father to grab his gasping son.
Davide’s mother Signora Ceci said: “It is a hero, it seems impossible an animal could have done something like that, to feel the instinct to save a human life.”
Filippo has lived in the waters off Manfredonia since he became separated from a visiting school of dolphins. Maritime researcher Dr Giovanna Barbieri said: “Filippo seems not to have the slightest fear of humans. I’m not surprised he should have done such a wonderful thing as to save a human.”

More stories at the link....


At the risk of sounding totally cheesy....they're like our guardian angels of the sea :)

[twa]

At the risk of sounding totally cheesy....they're like our guardian angels of the sea :)


they make pretty good sentries as well.

Swimming with them is rather cool,both wild and trained

[dfitzo53]

I believe their the only creature outside of ourselves that have sex for pleasure and not just to reproduce too, to keep the human thing going.
Common misconception that floats around the internet but has no basis in fact.

[frostyj]

http://www.dolphin-way.com/dolphins-%E2%80%93-the-facts/dolphins-helping-humans/

August 2000 – Daily Record – Scotland

A friendly dolphin has saved a teenage boy from drowning. Non-swimmer Davide Ceci, 14, was within minutes of death when dolphin Filippo came to his rescue.
The friendly 61-stone creature has been a popular tourist attraction off Manfredonia in south-east Italy for two years. But now he is a local hero after saving Davide from the Adriatic when he fell from his father’s boat.
While Emanuele Ceci was still unaware his son had fallen into the waves, Filippo was pushing him up out of the water to safety. Davide said: “When I realised it was Filippo pushing me, I grabbed on to him.” The dolphin bore down on the boat and got close enough for Davide’s father to grab his gasping son.
Davide’s mother Signora Ceci said: “It is a hero, it seems impossible an animal could have done something like that, to feel the instinct to save a human life.”
Filippo has lived in the waters off Manfredonia since he became separated from a visiting school of dolphins. Maritime researcher Dr Giovanna Barbieri said: “Filippo seems not to have the slightest fear of humans. I’m not surprised he should have done such a wonderful thing as to save a human.”

More stories at the link....


At the risk of sounding totally cheesy....they're like our guardian angels of the sea :)

Pretty amazing that it knew to keep him above the water.


Common misconception that floats around the internet but has no basis in fact.

I have heard this before the interwebs. I don't think it is a myth, it may not be for pleasure(how can we know?), but they do have sex and it's not for mating.

[skinsmarydu]

Very sad story. Dolphins are awesome and are one of the few mammals that are self aware I believe
True. I've watched things recently on how elephants do the same...they keep their young until no longer able to keep moving them (slowing the herd). I cried like crazy.

[RansomthePasserby]

Common misconception that floats around the internet but has no basis in fact.

It's actually true. Dolphins, Bonobos, and Humans are the only animals that have sex primarily for pleasure. All other animals mate only when the female is fertile.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/pleasure.asp

[Jumbo]

It's actually true. Dolphins, Bonobos, and Humans are the only animals that have sex primarily for pleasure. All other animals mate only when the female is fertile.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/pleasure.asp

Friendly suggestion just as a matter of form: you might want to actually check some qualified zoological sources beyond snopes.

And to make your comment accurate, even by your snopes citation, you should include some pretty relevant info from there that you left out. Hint: there's more than one kind of sexual act and snopes is also using a very narrow and still speculative frame--read it carefully.

Even a quick scan of old wiki will expand the matter for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_sexual_behaviour

Not to start an OT tangent. :)

[RansomthePasserby]

Friendly suggestion just as a matter of form: you might want to actually check some qualified zoological sources beyond snopes.

You're right, and I usually try to do better research than that. It was hasty on my part, but a huffpost article linked to the snopes page, so I just went with it.


And to make your comment accurate, even by your snopes citation, you should include some pretty relevant info from there that you left out. Hint: there's more than one kind of sexual act and snopes is also using a very narrow and still speculative frame--read it carefully.

Agreed. Snopes is restricting the definition of "sex" to intercourse between a male and female. Maybe we should just throw the word "pleasure" out all together since many animals, especially mammals, do experience pleasure during sex. I guess a better way to put it would be: Dolphins, Bonobos, and Humans are possibly the only animals that mate for reasons other than reproduction.

[dfitzo53]

For what it's worth, I think my comment was misinterpreted.

I didn't mean that dolphins do not have sex for pleasure, I meant that they're not the only non-human species to do so.

The idea that they are is one of those classic internet myths that ends up in a chain email and is inexplicably accepted as fact without any evidence being provided.

[Koolblue13]

I ate Bull Shark last night.

[brandymac27]

I ate Bull Shark last night.

Did it give you indigestion?

[Koolblue13]

Did it give you indigestion?

No why?

[brandymac27]

No why?

Every time I eat shark it gives me terrible indigestion, and I have no idea why.

[Koolblue13]

Every time I eat shark it gives me terrible indigestion, and I have no idea why.

Interesting. I only had the head to cook though. I salted and smoked it and then scrapped whatever meat I could out of it. The skin is so tough, my razor sharp knife wouldn't cut the skin. Made a soup out of it. Made a fish sauce out of the renderings from the salting and used it to make a caeser dressing. I was cooking a "slow down" dinner at the sustainable farming institute. Very cool. No idea what ingredients you'll have until you get there. 6 courses, 40-50 people.

[brandymac27]

Interesting. I only had the head to cook though. I salted and smoked it and then scrapped whatever meat I could out of it. The skin is so tough, my razor sharp knife wouldn't cut the skin. Made a soup out of it. Made a fish sauce out of the renderings from the salting and used it to make a caeser dressing. I was cooking a "slow down" dinner at the sustainable farming institute. Very cool. No idea what ingredients you'll have until you get there. 6 courses, 40-50 people.

Sounds really good. Is this something similar to one of those shows on Food Network where you're challenged to make something with no idea before hand what the main course/ingredients are? A cooking class or something like it? Either way, it does sound pretty cool.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Common misconception that floats around the internet but has no basis in fact.

I'll sit down later after the Bengals game and look into that.

But as we currently stand, I'm going off Attenborough's research. And if Sir David say's it, that's good enough for me.

Hail.

[Koolblue13]

Sounds really good. Is this something similar to one of those shows on Food Network where you're challenged to make something with no idea before hand what the main course/ingredients are? A cooking class or something like it? Either way, it does sound pretty cool.

It's called Ridge to Reef farm and they do dinners for people with 95% of the food being grown or caught on island. Remind people how important it is to eat local, with members of your community and take your time, talk and laugh and enjoy everything around you.

http://www.visfi.org/about/

[dfitzo53]

I'll sit down later after the Bengals game and look into that.

But as we currently stand, I'm going off Attenborough's research. And if Sir David say's it, that's good enough for me.

Hail.
Read my post above. I never said Dolphins don't mate for pleasure, I intended to say that they're not the only non-human species that does. Another, the bonobo, has already been mentioned in this thread. Personally, I doubt they're the only two.