September 16, 2008 Dolphin Birth
 

The birth of a bottle nose dolphin in captivity

http://cellar.org/2008/dolphin1.jpg

http://cellar.org/2008/dolphin2.jpg

Lets get this out of the way:


SHARK!


Okay, on with your lives.

I'm supposed to go "Beautiful, the miracle of life!" Instead I'm just like,"Ewww, why does the miracle have to look so gross?"

That looks like a breech birth to me, I'm no intelligent designer but I'd have the critter swim out nose first even if it does mean mom has to make a U turn.

While I'm at it I'd add something to the blood to make it smell like something that eats sharks whole.

Ewww... I'll never have sex with another Dolphin. :headshake

I was thinking the same thing, foot. Every animal I've ever seen is supposed to give birth head-first.

Oh a Little one !!
All young and tender Good for roasting !!

Tail first ensures that the calf's propulsion is ready to get the nose to the surface. Mom dolphins help, but the young have to swim or, you know, sink... although they'll eventually float. Just be belly up.

These two presented shots are a misrepresentation.

The first shot is really this occurring..



































:headshake :thepain: :eek:

In that case, I wonder why she wouldn't stay closer to the surface? :confused:

I guess in the ocean, the depth of that pool is close to the surface.

For some reason I thought the baby dolphin would be smaller. But at that size it would be the perfect dinner for two.

Dolphins breath air. The baby would drown if it birthed head first. Ain't nature clever?

Sarasvati is on the bull's eye. Dolphins must breech birth otherwise the little one's blow-hole (Sheldon, stop thinking that) would be under water for too long and it would drown.

Mind you, I am sooooo glad I am not a female dolphin. Hell, human childbirth looks bad enough, but having one WITH FINS the come out BACKWARDS.... Ououououch that's gotta smart.

I'm also worried about all that blood in the water. Hey, sharks, over here - good eatins!

The Mythbusters did an episode where they tested the myth that sharks are afraid of/and/or do not like dolphins. They tested great whites off the coast of Africa with a fake seal (great white's fav food, I guess). The sharks attacked the fake seal every time, until they put a fake dolphin in the water near the fake seal. The sharks would swim near, catch sight of the 'dolphin', and make a hasty retreat.:)

That same myth has been disproven in many real life instances where sharks have attacked people swimming with dolphins.

A very recent case here in Australia comes to mind for me where a young woman was swimming with dolphins just offshore in the shallows reasonably close to a drop off when she was mauled by a number of bull sharks. They ripped off both her arms and part of a leg.

The dolphins swam off. Didn't even bring her into shore.

eta: she died.

Maybe the sharks can't tell it's a dolphin...?

Maybe it depends on the breed of shark.

Did they at least dial 911?

But isn't that - didn't I - oh never mind.

Umm, well, yes, now that you point it out to me ... :p

: Doffs cap to Sweetwater, adds polite bow for cultural reasons :

Bullsharks - they are just sharks, they are eeeeeevil.

I bet the dolphin got the frick outta there when there were a few bullsharks. :bolt:

That was not a dolphin giving birth, the first dolphin done a high speed emergency stop while the second dolphin was tailgating and could not stop in time :eek:

Yeah...bullsharks are ugly fuckers, and they don't discriminate.

I was talking to Dazza about possible reasons why people think Dolphins don't swim with sharks, and I came up with a theory that if dolphins know a shark is about they take off because they're a sharks' natural prey. So in effect, if the dolphins are hanging around, it might indicate that there aren't any sharks about, but if the dolphins bugger off, so should you.

Of course, when there's schools of bait fish about, both dolphins and sharks feed from the same school at the same time, so that sort of blows a hole in that theory.

I've also personaly witnessed dolphins and sharks swimming in the same waters within moments of each other on Fraser Island during Taylor season. Actually, I had an eye opener when I was there as a kid. There were large sharks (I'm talking 3 or more metres long) swimming in the wash up from the waves. That's knee deep and less water, so since then I've held the belief, that if you're going to go in up to your knees, you might as well go the whole way in if it's sharks you're worried about.

I think mythbusters should probably stick to physics and chemistry though. That experiment they did has no scientific value what so ever, other than to prove that some sharks don't like rubber.

Personally, I think too many people have been watching flipper.

Punchline Recycler: Rectum hell!! Damn near killed them!!!

Talking about dolphins, check out this awesome video posted on Snopes today.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/dolphinrings.asp

:D

Thats so awesome.

Oh man, after seeing that I can never have sex with a dolphin again.:p