Nari, the dolphin who was rescued after he was mauled by a shark back in February, was reunited with his pod when he was released back into the wild last night.
Nari spent the past seven weeks recuperating at Sea World after sustaining serious injuries to his head and back following the attack from a suspected 9ft bull shark.
Go Nari!
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A leaping 9-foot, 400-pound dolphin hospitalized two boaters when it landed in their laps!
Norman Howard, 64, said he and his wife, Barbara, were in a 18-foot boat cruising around New Smyrna yesterday when the large dolphin jumped into their boat and continued to hit them with its tail.
Apparently the dolphin came out of nowhere… before they knew it, there was blood everywhere.
Norman was smacked in the face and ribs while his wife received a few lacerations to the face.
They were found after officers received 911 calls from witnesses. Barbara was still conscious when the U.S. Coast Guard reached the boat. They were both transported to Bert Fish Medical Center.
The dolphin was released back into the water. Barbara Howard remains hospitalized in stable condition.
FYI: The chance of a dolphin jumping into a boat is 1 in 3,000,000.
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Wildlife officials are warning people against getting too close to a family of dolphins that have been hanging out in two New Jersey rivers, saying sharks have also been known to frequent the area.
Bull sharks, which have a pretty bad rep for attacking humans, have been known to swim in the same section of the Navesink River where the 15 wayward dolphins have been staying, said Bob Schoelkopf, co-director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.
“In that area are bull sharks that go in there quite frequently,” he said. “You never know what you might be looking at; it could be a dolphin or it could be a shark.”
Wildlife officials have been concerned about the increasing number of boaters and jetskiers getting too close to the dolphins, which have been in the area since June. Federal regulations require that boaters stay at least 50 yards away from the dolphins; harassing them is punishable by a $10,000 fine.
Schoelkopf said it might have been a shark that one man recently tried chasing after seeing something big break the surface of the water; the man’s wife later reported the encounter. Schoelkopf said the animal probably WAS NOT A DOLPHIN because it never resurfaced, which dolphins must do regularly to breathe.
He also said quite a few injured seals were found in the area with wounds from shark attacks.
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The first pictures of what has been dubbed the world’s ugliest dolphin were shown on Australian television on Thursday.
The snub fin dolphin with its distinctive bulbous head was first identified three years ago off Western Australia’s remote Kimberley coast and it’s the first new dolphin species to be discovered in fifty years.
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A 30-year-old dolphin at Sea World has died after colliding with another dolphin while performing aerial tricks, the Orlando, Florida, amusement park said Monday.
The incident occurred about 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Discovery Cove area of the park, according to a statement by a Sea World spokesperson.
The animals were in the center of the lagoon and not near guests, she said.
The dolphin who died was named Sharky. The other dolphin, Tyler, is being watched by veterinarians but appears to be fine.
R.I.P. Sharky!
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Say hello to Kekaimalu the wolphin! Kekaimalu was the result of a bottlenose dolphin and a false killer whale that hooked up.
The two animals mated while working together at Sea Life Park in Hawaii and Kekaimalu was born in 1985.
Kekaimalu is 600lbs and nearly 10ft long. Her color and shape are a mix of that of her mother and father.
But unlike most hybrids, which tend to be sterile, Kekaimalu had two female calfs, both fathered by male bottlenoses.
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Moko the dolphin, a regular visitor to the coast of Mahia on the east Coast of New Zealand’s North Island, became an instant hero after leading two stranded pygmy whales back out to sea.
Moko, who’s been visiting the beach at Mahia on and off over the summer, arrived on the scene in the nick of time.
The disoriented mother and calf had resisted attempts by humans to to be herded back out to sea, and kept restranding on the beach, to the point where they would likely have to be killed.
Then Moko appeared, swam right up to the whales, exchanged some sort of dolphin/whale sounds, and led them out to sea!
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A new study shows that male dolphins carry pieces of plants and twigs to impress females. Object-carrying as part of sexual display is rare in the animal kingdom, with only humans and chimpanzees doing anything similar.
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Heroes star Hayden Panettiere was in tears yesterday after watching the slaughter of a pod of dolphins.
The actress was among 30 protesters who paddled on surfboards in an attempt to stop Japanese fisherman during their annual dolphin massacre.
But before the surfers could reach the dolphins, a fishing boat intervened using the boat’s propellers to block their way.
The fishermen then produced a long boathook to chase off the protesters. Dang! They mean business!
The confrontation lasted more than 10 minutes before the surfers were forced to return to the beach.
A defeated Panettiere is now back in LA.
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Winter, the year-old dolphin at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida, is missing her tail! The young bottlenosed dolphin lost her tail and joint when she was caught in a crab trap when she was just a baby. But the lack of a tail hasn’t slowed her down. She’s learned to swim without it and seems to be happy as a clam.
A specialist is working on a prosthetic tail for Winter. I think Winter needs to meet Fuji.
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