Dolphin Rescues Stranded Whales

Know how dolphins are supposed to be smarter than us? One of them showed it Wednesday.

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Moko, a bottlenose who normally spends her time playing, bailed out two pygmy sperm whales that humans were struggling to help.The whales, a mother and calf, were stranded on Mahia Beach and had been in the care of human rescuers for over an hour. Initally successful, the workers were horrified to see the whales beach themselves again on a sandbar four times, indicating that they were probably on their way to an agonizing, complex death. It was at that point, Moko, who was described by an official on the scene as "altruistic" appeared, and let the pygmy sperm whales 200 yards down the beach to an open channel. There have been many instances of dolphins assisting weak swimmers, which may be instinctual, but this appears to be the first instance of interspecies help.

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