On the east side of North Island, one of the three islands that make up New Zealand, is Mahia Beach. This is home to a local hero named Moko. Moko is a female bottle-nose dolphin who decided to take up residence at this beach over two years ago. She is known for searching for swimmers and boats to play with and has become a local celebrity. Quite a few swimmers have been know to go out and play with Moko and have found her to have an excessive amount of playfulness. She has also been known to swim up to boats and let people pet her as well has push kayaks around with her nose. Although there are not many cases of dolphins interacting this closely with humans, this dolphin has made quite a name for herself. Dolphins are known for being very intelligent and seem to understand when someone else is in need of help.
Mahai beach has about 30 whales that become stranded on the beach every year. A field worker for New Zealand’s Department of Conservation named Malcolm Smith was told about two pygmy sperm whales that had gotten themselves trapped behind a sand bar. During each attempt to free the whales, the pair kept getting confused and would get themselves stranded again. After an hour and a half of trying to lead the whales back out to sea, Smith was about ready to give up. Moko came just in the nick of time, coming right up to the whales and leading them down the shore to a narrow opening that led to deeper water. Smith said that just before she led the whales to safety, he heard them exchange vocalizations. Since there is no known common language between dolphins and pygmy whales, it is unknown what they communicated to each other. Dolphins are known for traveling with other species of whales for protection purposes so it is very plausible that they can communicate with each other. Smith seemed almost surprised that Moko could communicate with the whales. In my opinion, if dolphins are known for traveling with whales, then I would think that they would need a way to communicate with them. Also, since they are such similar creatures, I would think that some of their modes of communication and maybe even some of their signals would be the same or at least closely related.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3540973.ece
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/27/dolphin-swimmer.html
Jenn Sears
Mahai beach has about 30 whales that become stranded on the beach every year. A field worker for New Zealand’s Department of Conservation named Malcolm Smith was told about two pygmy sperm whales that had gotten themselves trapped behind a sand bar. During each attempt to free the whales, the pair kept getting confused and would get themselves stranded again. After an hour and a half of trying to lead the whales back out to sea, Smith was about ready to give up. Moko came just in the nick of time, coming right up to the whales and leading them down the shore to a narrow opening that led to deeper water. Smith said that just before she led the whales to safety, he heard them exchange vocalizations. Since there is no known common language between dolphins and pygmy whales, it is unknown what they communicated to each other. Dolphins are known for traveling with other species of whales for protection purposes so it is very plausible that they can communicate with each other. Smith seemed almost surprised that Moko could communicate with the whales. In my opinion, if dolphins are known for traveling with whales, then I would think that they would need a way to communicate with them. Also, since they are such similar creatures, I would think that some of their modes of communication and maybe even some of their signals would be the same or at least closely related.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3540973.ece
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/27/dolphin-swimmer.html
Jenn Sears
Wow, this is pretty impressive. I would have to agree with you that there could be some form of communication between these species. Not only are they closely related in terms of ancestry, but they live as neighbors in many habitats. Also even if this communication isn’t shared exactly, they may be able to share basic ideas, sort of like how we communicate with dogs. I know my dog has a basic understanding of when I am happy, mad, or sad. It would be interesting to know if this is something these animals learn from/about one another from living in close proximity or if they share similar innate communicative techniques. I find it pretty amazing too that the dolphin was able to understand what the humans were trying to accomplish. Did the article discuss any hard evidence that this was the case (It is sometimes hard to not be anthropomorphic in cases as these)? It would be really interesting to get additional information about whale-dolphin relationships, especially between these types of species in particular. Great find; I am looking forward to hearing more about this topic!
ReplyDeletePosted by Jackie Connolly
It is very interesting that two species can communicate with each other. Has communication between species been seen outside of this instance? Do scientists think that Moko is just a special case?
ReplyDeleteIt may be a worthwhile experiment to take Moko and see her communication skills in different situations. This could open up many doors into understanding animal communication/behavior.
-Tricia Carlson
I found it very interesting that Moko had the idea to try to lead the whales to safety on her own, and that she seemed to communicate with them. It seems completely possible that the two species would have very similar signals if they live in similar habitats and interact with each other frequently. It might be a good experiment to record communication between Moko and pygmy whales and compair the signals used to dolphin-dolphin communication signals and to whal-whale communication signals.
ReplyDeletePosted by Sarah Benjamin
I think that this article is very interesting. I always wondered if different species could communicate with each other. I wonder if they have to be similar in order to communicate? Is this the first time recorded that dolphins and whales communicate with each other? I wonder if they communicate with each other all the time.
ReplyDeleteIt would be very interesting to research the communication of species in the ocean to see who communicates with who.
Posted by Samantha Babcock
I loved this article! Do they have any idea how Moko knows when people are in trouble? It does seem likely that dolphins and pygmy whales somehow manage to communicate. Do they have any ideas how?
ReplyDelete-Emily Crete
wow this us a good article. i wish i could get in the water and play with this dolphin. it is so rare to see that a dolphin is this open with human contact. it is truly impressive that she has been know to go up to boats and let them pet her. it would be interesting to study how she has become so comfortable with human interaction.
ReplyDelete-Stephen Chiricosta