Grommet the Whale Stays By Trapped Buddy’s Side During Rescue
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Last Sunday tour guides learned of a whale in distress just a few minutes into a whale-watching trip off the coast of Nova Scotia.
The humpback, known as Foggy, was tangled up in fishing line and couldn’t lift her tail, so Pirate’s Cove Whale and Seabird Cruises called the Campobello Whale Rescue Team. When the team of volunteers arrived, Foggy was no longer moving—but she had a friend by her side, another humpback known as Grommet, who refused to leave as rescuers worked to free Foggy, the Chronicle Herald reports.
At first rescuers were concerned. “Sometimes other whales do interfere thinking we’re going to do more harm than good,” one of the volunteer rescuers explains. But Grommet was patient for 45 minutes, and as soon as Foggy was finally loose, Grommet performed a spectacular jump. It certainly seemed as if “she was pleased to see her buddy free,” says the rescuer. Adds one of the tour guides on Facebook, “I will challenge anyone who claims that humans are the only intelligent, empathetic animals. Grommet never left Foggy’s side.”
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I recently read that dolphins are not as smart as we once thought. Characteristics observed in dolphins that caused people to categorize them as highly intelligent apparently are not unique to dolphins. Therefore, dolphins are clearly not necessarily smart.
And then there is the other conclusion (to which I subscribe): MOST nonhuman animals are a lot smarter than we give them credit for!
Bingo, Marsha!
Just today I was pointing out that our younger dog is smarter than we thought. One test is to point. Unintelligent animals will look at your finger. Smarter ones will look where you are pointing. Charlie passed easily.
Poor Kiko cannot as he is blind now.
The Buybull is responsible for people automatically dismissing creatures as dumb, inferior animals. As we start to shift away from religious nonsense toward a more compassionate, informed approach we are starting to find out that animals possess any number of human attributes, including intelligence.
It is rapidly becoming apparent that many “animals” are much more intelligent than we previously thought.
It may be that we are not the only sentient species on the planet.
It is true that, as humans, we often anthropomorphize what is natural, instinctive behavior with other creatures. Perhaps it is knowledge of that tendency that makes us ignore what should be obvious?