Libertine: On the Prowl

Vidi, vici, veni -- I saw, I conquered, I came. _______________________________________________________________

Dolphins Save a Man's Life

01:19, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted in animals .. 16 comments .. Link

Surfer Todd Endris owes his life to a group of quick-thinking dolphins.

On August 28, while surfing in Monterey, California, Endris was suddenly attacked by a great white shark. The shark attacked him three times, hampered by the surf board Endris was on. But it managed to peel the skin off his back and mangle one of Endris' legs during the repeated attacks, though he was able to fight the shark by kicking it with his other foot.

At this point, a pod of dolphins appeared and surrounded Endris in a protective ring, which caused the shark to break off the attack. The dolphins' protection allowed Endris to get back on his board and to make his way to shore, where first aid was given while waiting for the helicopter which evacuated him to a hospital.

Six weeks later, Endris was well enough to return to surfing, though he is still undergoing physical therapy to repair the muscle damage he endured in the attack.

The behavior of the dolphins is not unusual -- there are countless cases of dolphins acting to protect humans in the water from marine predators, usually sharks. Sharks fear dolphins, which allows the dolphins to effectively help humans.

For some reason, dolphins like humans. They commonly follow ships at sea; hoping for a handout, I'm guessing. I remember my father telling me that one of his favorite activities was to watch the dolphins who followed his aircraft carrier when he was at sea during WWII.

As for me, if I ever go to Florida, the first thing I want to do is to go to one of those places where they let you swim with the dolphins. If any of my readers has done this, I'd like to hear about it.

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02:17, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted by Chica
Dolphins are amazing, I am a long time lover of them, since I first seen the show Flipper on TV when I was a lil chitlen. I also want to go to Discovery Cove, where you can get one on one access with the dolphins, much like Seaworld or something.

That's amazing that they saved the guy's life, maybe now he will start cutting his rings off his six packs or something.

Dophins

05:28, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted by Chandramoon
I've never actually swum with dolphins but once I sailed from San Diego across to Catalina island and a huge pod of about 100 dolphins followed our boat for a long way - jumping out of the water and playing with the bowstream. It was an amazing feeling having those beautiful creature so close and looking at us eye to eye!

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08:08, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted by mandaj
I've always wanted to swim with dolphins, but it's pretty pricey. I've pet dolphins before and they are so soft! You'd think they'd feel rubbery, but I think they feel soft. And they're friendly too!

Never swimmed with them.

10:48, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted by Patty
For one thing I don't swim and nother you wouldn't catch this fat body in a swim suit. But when we went to Sea World, I did get to feed the dolphins.

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11:38, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted by Rubicon
Well Will, here's one thing I can say that I have done, and in open waters.
This includes a fabulous adventure that most only dream of, and that is staying on a deserted island centered in the thousand islands that make up Indonesia.

Without making this too long, me and a friend, Randy Beohm, took a boat to an island owned by a wealthy Australian, he owned three, two were used for other things, but this one, called Pulau Smut, which translates to Ant Island, was rented out to folks who wanted to experience what it's like to actually be on a deserted island. The longest you could stay was three days, you had to bring all of you're own supplies and they provided the boat ride, from the main island, to the island and a walkie-talkie in case you got into trouble. The main island was about an hour away.

In the several times that Randy and I were able to go, we would pitch camp on the beach, as no one could stay in the interior of the island....that's another story. But the long and short of it is that when we would go snorkeling or suba-diving, at times dolphins would come close to us as though they were curious, well they were, and so were we. Eventually they would let us get closer until they would let us touch them and sort of pet them. There was no grabbing of the dorsal fin and hitching a ride like in Flipper!

The point being is that it's an experience that of course is once in a lifetime, and one that I'll love and cherish forever! Our guess is that since there was a coral reef pretty much surrounding the island, that they could find food there from the smaller fish that scooted around the reefs.. We used to wait at the openings of some of the smaller caves in the reefs for small Lemon Sharks to come out and grab their tales and watch them scamper away. It was funny to watch the dolphins watching us. It would seem as though they knew that we were just having fun and causing no harm. Sometimes one or two dolphins would come and hover right next to us, like waiting for that touch, or to be petted, or to just get closer to see what we were all about. And then...in one quick flap of that tail, they would scamper off to other things.

I know of a number of stories where dolphins have saved human life from shark attacks. Yes...sharks do fear dolphins, the dolphin will ram itself head-first into the gills of a shark, thereby rendering it useless because it can't breath, they will keep doing this until the shark just floats downward and dies.

Ever notice how a dolphin has a perpetual smile on it's face? They, along with whales, have an intelligence that we have yet to understand, and you can see it in their eyes. I think also that dolphins fully understand that we are as fascinated with them as they are with us. And I think they know that we go out of our way to save them.

Ok...enough, I have more dolphin stories from Australia, but I've already taken up way too much of your space!

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11:49, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted by littleMissConfused
I saw an interview with this guy on the Today show the other morning. The thing I liked the best about him was when he was asked if the shark that bit him should be killed.his answer was "NO". He said he was in the sharks territory and the shark was only doing what comes natural! I don't know if I could be that forgiving after having all those stitches.....

It's nice to know there are some people that understand us humans don't own the world...we have to share it.

I would love to see a dolphin in person. Swim with one would be great! My list of things I would like to do before I die include touch a live dolphin and pet a tiger.

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11:52, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted by libertine
You'd be better off choosing to pet a mountain lion, as their behavior is usually more predictable than that of a tiger. This is because they are much more closely related to the common house cat than any of the other large cats; they're the only large cat than cat purr, for example.

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12:07, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted by littleMissConfused
Iv'e herd that before. I was once told that if I petted a tiger it might well be my last wish!

About 7 years ago I was in las Vegas and one of the Casinos had a baby tiger on display. You could get your picture taken with it and pet it. I waited in line for like 2 hours! When it was almost my turn, the handler decided the baby tiger had had enough and they shut down for the day....we had to leave early the next morning so I didn't get another chance!

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12:57, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted by thyme
My sister swam with dolphins once, I think. In Australia. This is a good story but i've heard different stories of dolpins drowning humans too, by pushing them out off the beach into the sea. Though apparently they were not being agressive against the humans, but they may have been thinking they were helping them and protecting them from certain death by washing on the shore. Maybe dolphins recognize something in us heh.

EclectaComment

09:59, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted by Eclectablog
Okay, Michael, you TOTALLY need to hook me up with this guy with the islands. I SO want to have the experience you described. That is just way too cool. Wow.

Dolphins

02:39, 2007-Nov-12 .. Posted by readerwil
When we returned from Indonesia in December 1945 we saw also lots of dolphins following the ship.. Our voyage lasted more than a month so there was a lot to be seen, especially for kids who had just been liberated from a concentration camp.
Thanks for telling that story!

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12:49, 2007-Nov-12 .. Posted by lisalisabobisa
What a wonderful story! Swimming with dolphins sounds amazing...

swimmimg with dolphins

02:22, 2007-Nov-12 .. Posted by Anonymous
I finally got to swim with the dolphins in Mexico; there is a Mayan park called Xcaret- which has various experiences that relate to the Mayan way of life in Mexico ( kind of like a Mayan "Six Flags" but MUCH BETTER);there are two different priced "swims" so if you can't afford the more expensive, you can still do it- it was something I have always wanted to do- and was worth it!

swimming with dolphins

05:04, 2007-Nov-12 .. Posted by Anonymous
My husband and I were on a cruise in the Caribbean in 2002 and one of the stops was at the island of Roatan, off the coast of Honduras. We could sign up to visit a dolphin lagoon which we did. It was the most amazing thing because it was an extremely beautiful tropical place with clear water and white sand. We didn't actually swim with them, but we were in the water with them, held them and received a "kiss" from them. There were only about eight cruise people there, so it was really close up and personal. A great experience.

hm. informative :)

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08:58, 2010-Feb-20 .. Posted by Wahrsagen Online
Awesome, I didn't heard about this topic till now. Thanks!!