(OT) Dolphins Protect New Zealand Swimmers from Shark]

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Dolphins Protect New Zealand Swimmers from Shark

 

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>Science - Reuters

>Dolphins Protect New Zealand Swimmers from Shark

>

>Mon Nov 22, 9:52 PM ET

>

>Science - Reuters

>

>WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A pod of dolphins circled protectively round a group

>of New Zealand swimmers to fend off an attack by a great white shark, media

>reported on Tuesday.

>

>Lifesavers Rob Howes, his 15-year-old daughter Niccy, Karina Cooper and

>Helen Slade were swimming 300 feet off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on New

>Zealand´s North Island when the dolphins herded them -- apparently to

>protect them from a shark.

>

> " They started to herd us up, they pushed all four of us together by doing

>tight circles around us, " Howes told the New Zealand Press Association

>(NZPA).

>

>Howes tried to drift away from the group, but two of the bigger dolphins

>herded him back just as he spotted a nine-foot great white shark swimming

>toward the group.

>

> " I just recoiled. It was only about 2 m away from me, the water was crystal

>clear and it was as clear as the nose on my face, " Howes said, referring to

>a distance of 6 feet.

>

> " They had corralled us up to protect us, " he said.

>

>The lifesavers spent the next 40 minutes surrounded by the dolphins before

>they could safely swim back to shore. The incident happened on October 30,

>but the lifesavers kept the story to themselves until now.

>

>Environment group Orca Research said dolphins attacked sharks to protect

>themselves and their young, so their actions in protecting the lifesavers

>was understandable.

>

> " They could have sensed the danger to the swimmers and taken action to

>protect them, " Orca´s Ingrid Visser told NZPA.

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