A group of swimmers has told how a pod of dolphins protected them from a great white shark off New Zealand’s coast. <\/P><\/p>\n
\nThe dolphins swam in a tight, defensive circle<\/P><\/p>\n
The lifeguards were training at a beach near Whangarei on the North Island when they were menaced by a 3-metre shark, before the dolphins raced in to help. <\/P><\/p>\n
\n The swimmers were surrounded by the dolphins for 40 minutes before they were able to make it safely back to the beach. <\/P><\/p>\n
\n Marine biologists say such altruistic behaviour is not uncommon in dolphins. <\/P><\/p>\n
\nLifeguard Rob Howes was in the water with two colleagues and his teenage daughter. <\/P><\/p>\n
\nIt was an uncomfortable experience, as they were circled by a great white shark, which came within a couple of metres. <\/P><\/p>\n
\n He said around half a dozen dolphins suddenly appeared and herded the swimmers together. The mammals swam in tight circles to create a defensive barrier as the great white lurked under the surface. <\/P><\/p>\n
\nThe swimmers said the dolphins were extremely agitated and repeatedly slapped the water with their tails, presumably to try to deter the predator as it cruised nearby. <\/P><\/p>\n
\n The drama happened in New Zealand three weeks ago, but only now are the lifeguards telling their story. <\/P><\/p>\n
\n It is a day they will never forget, especially for one of the swimmers, who was on her first day as a volunteer. <\/P><\/p>\n
\n They have no doubt that the dolphins acted deliberately to protect them. <\/P><\/p>\n
\n Researchers have said they are not surprised. A marine biologist insisted that dolphins, which are considered to be one of the most intelligent mammals, “like to help the helpless”. <\/P>
\n
By Phil Mercer, BBC, Sydney <\/B><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Marine biologists say such altruistic behaviour is not uncommon in dolphins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}