Now there's something you don't see every day!

Hi Guys,

I happened upon a beautiful story this evening about some
newbie life guards in New Zealand who were saved by dolphins.

I turned on the TV to see what was on, and flicking through
the channels I came across a show called "Natural World"
(have any of your guys heard of it?  It's amazing) and they
were reporting on this amazing story.

Anyways, I didn't see the beginning but the part I saw it
from really caught my attention, and I watched transfixed
as the guards recounted their amazing experience through
a narrated reconstruction.

Apparently, these young life guards, stationed in New Zealand,
were training in the water when a pod of about 6 or 7 dolphins
surrounded them and began circling them and nudging them.

All of a sudden the life guards started panicking and huddled
together.  The circle got closer and closer as though the guards
were being herded like sheep by sheepdogs!

The dolphins flashed their tails forcing the life guards to swim
closer together; at this point the guards felt they were being
attacked and couldn't understand why the dolphins were acting
in such an aggressive way.

Amazingly, this went on for about 45 mins!

A second life guard crew became aware of the group being circled
by the dolphins and sent a boat out to investigate.

One of the life guards attempted to dive into the water a little
ways off from the group.  Entering the water he suddenly came
face to face with a great white shark!  Unbelievably, he managed
to swim away from the shark and into the circle of dolphins,
which opened up to allow him in.

I was watching this show guys, and I couldn't believe what I was
seeing! 

At first glance it looked like the dolphins were attacking, but then
it became more apparent that the dolphins were actually
protecting the life guards from the shark!

This was really amazing because to most sea creatures the great
white is a natural predator.  Yet, here were these brave dolphins
risking their own lives to protect the humans!

What was it that made them want to protect the humans
from the fiercesome predator?
 
And, they continued to circle until the great white had no chance
to attack and eventually gave up trying.

Gradually, the circle of dolphins began to widen and as quickly as
the dolphins had appeared, they disappeared.  The life guards
recounted feeling as though the dolphins were saying it was safe.

Shaken, confused, afraid and totally shocked the life guards
managed to get back to shore, unaware that they had just been
saved from certain death by the "aggressive" dolphins. 

It wasn't until the following day when the second life guard who
dived into the water plucked up the courage to tell his
colleaues that there was actually a shark in the water that the
other life guards realised just how close they had come to being
another shark attack statistic.

The experts on the show later confirmed that empathy for another species,
was a behavioural phenomenon common in dolphins; further, studies had
shown that the area of the brain associated with emotions and
emotional responses in humans was also present in the dolphin's highly-
developed and super-sized brain.

I was so amazed by this I had to share it.

Have a great day,

Dora