Saying "hullo bro" - hectors' dolphins need our help!

This has to be the BEST thing I've done in my life- swimming with wild dolphins in NZ. Loved it so much I've swum with this species 5 times! This species is particularly sociable and they come to play with swimmers. They even interact with you.
I was blown away when one particular guy made eye contact with me and swam around me. I would turn to keep eye contact and around we would go in circles over and over again - only he would speed up till I couldnt keep up. Then he'd go away and come back and do it all again. One time we he came back he didnt just swim right up to my face like before (usually he'd swim past about 50cm from my face). This time he came up from behind me, jumped out of the water (where i couldnt see him) and entered the water right infront of my face. The first I knew of him being htere was as he entered the water right infront of me with no warning. I screamed through my snorkel it gave me such a fright! And then giggled furiously.

What a privaledge having such intelligent, fun wild animals choose to make a connection and interact with us even though we are a different species!

BUT THESE GUYS NEED OUR HELP!!!

Since the introduction of nylon filament nets in the 1970s, Hector's dolphin numbers have dropped from 29,000 to less than 8,000. Hector's dolphins can not sustain more than 10 deaths a year, but between 110 and 150 animals die in commercial gillnets. NZ fisheries fighting agaisnt conservation efforts.

These dolphins would bring in far more money through ecotourism than the money the fisheries would lose from restricted netting areas!

www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/hectors-mauis623.html?utm_c... Extra: 'Lost' deer rediscovered; 274 new species; IUCN Congress; Virgin birth; Deepest ever fish; Sahara wildife; Mammals in crisis.&utm_content=tundrafox@gmail.com&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_term=New Zealand's fishing industry ignoring science - endangering dolphins

pic either by me or my bro

Taken on: October 14, 2008

Tags:

hectors

dolphin

maui

endangered

critically

extinction

red

list

listed

wild

wildlife

mammal

delphindae

ocean

sea

akaroa

banks

peninsula

under

water

camera

swimming

help

Cephalorhynchus

hectori

Threatened

IUCN « less

Sets appears in: • Animals: Wildlife! • Hector's Dolphins, NZ

Groups appears in: • Canberra Photographers • Hector's Dolphins

Stats: 2,220 views / 4 comments

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