WELLINGTON, New Zealand (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 meters 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 six 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. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...nm/20041123/od_nm/life_newzealand_dolphins_dc
Yeah its all over the news this morning, it also makes you also think about the tales of sailors from centurys past, regarding glistening water maids protecting them. I would imagine they could well be Dolphins. What would you call them if you had never seen one before?
Heh, tastes like chicken...like a sweet meat...but moving on :| Dolphins are well cool, used to follow them out on the boat, you can really tell there intelligent, just by the way they look at you etc (until they start ripping up salmon....then thats just gross and they look like sharks but everyones gotta eat... I got some cool videos somewhere of them swimming next to us just jumping about in the water..there really tame tbf as hardly see humans etc to see us as a threat... - M@
Divers very rarely get attacked by sharks, Sharks usually go for animals floating at the top of the water. Obviously there is the issue of starting at the top of the water to decend, but just take a big knife
I heard a really funny thing. The only thing a white shark does not expect of its prey is attack. So if I see one I'll bite it. See what happens.... hehehe
Good luck! I heard they close their eyes during attack and the shark cannot actually see its prey when attacking. The shark uses its other senses on the attack itself.
Smacking a shark on the nose and knifing its eye is the best way to stop an attack. You're right, they have a thick membrane they close over their eyes to protect them during an attack. If you see a great white coming for you (unlikely as they're fast as hell ambush predators) smash it in the nose as hard as possible. They're really sensitive there and there's a good chance that they'll swim off and look for easier prey to kill.
