Walk the Walk -- A Dolphin Tail

Culture in Dolphins

It seems that like Humans and Apes; Dolphins share culture among themselves. Near Adelaide on the south coast of Australia is a group of dolphins is learning to "tail-walk". (image to right -- image from BBC NEWS) Tail-walking is not a typical behaviour found in dolphins in the wild but is one taught to them in captivity. A female dolphin in that group, Billie, had spent a short time in a dolphinarium 20 years ago¹.

Twenty years ago Billie had been trapped in a marina lock and was suffering from malnutrition and sickness so they put her in a local dolphinarium for a few weeks in the 1980's. She was never trained while their, but apparently she had seen other dolphins at the dolphinarium tail-walking. It is inferred that with other females in her group having picked up the behaviour of tail-walking that they have learned it from Billie.

Mike Bossley-Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society²

"It would seem that among the Port River dolphins we may have an incipient tail-walking culture."

Sharing cultural behaviour is something that is known in apes and it has been documented that dolphins off Western Australia are known to use sponges as an aid in gathering food and to teach their young how to use them². Tail-walking would be considered a "cultural behaviour"² like language which helps define a group. "we may have an incipient tail-walking culture."²

I know that many species of whales, dolphins, and their kin have differences in "language" between different populations that are different enough that the part of the world an individual is from can be told by the dialect/accent of their speech-song-voice even while they are physically the same species and I believe it has been shown that this is learned behaviour

It is interesting that a skill that probably was learned by one individual in a few weeks by observation by one dolphin has now been mastered and is being taught in her family group. I think it is very interesting how many things we think of as definingly "human" is within the scope of some animal we have studied. Of course dolphins are very intelligent creatures that are very social.

I even recall seeing that sometimes dolphins and whales might even cooperate with feeding... We should try be more like dolphins.

Later!
~ Darrell

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¹ "Wild dolphins tail-walk on water" Richard Black 19 August 2008, BBC NEWS | Science/Nature.

² Dr Mike Bossley, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, scientist monitoring the group on the Port River estuary.

UFO Proven Real! Armed Forces Take Aim with...

UFO Proven Real! Armed Forces Take Aim With Tribe's Best Bows and Arrows!

Well, the UFO is a helicopter and the armed forces are natives of one of the very few remaining uncontacted peoples of our world, but imagine... Earth could be that remote village in a backwater part of the galaxy and the helicopter could be a UFO.

(Picture at left is from "The Independant".) When I first saw stories about the tribe the other day I was under the impression that nobody knew about these people, but reading today I realize that the Brazilian Government has known about them and agreed to release the photos of them so that the rest of the world can understand their plight. They live in dense jungles near Peru and anthropologists have known about the group for some 20 years. The "plight" has to do with fast-encroaching development in the form of deforestation. Brazil has closed down 28 illegal sawmills in the area where these tribes are located, but logging on the Peruvian side of the border has sent many Indians fleeing into Brazil where remaining isolated can get complicated - these people wishing to remain isolated and practicing their own ways.

CTV.ca -o- Photos prove existence of 'uncontacted' Amazon tribe The Associated Press -o- Brazil says uncontacted Amazon tribe threatened AFP -o- Lost tribe discovered deep in Amazon: officials National Geographic News -o- PHOTO IN THE NEWS: "Uncontacted" Tribe Seen in Amazon Reuters -o- Amazon tribe sighting raises dilemma The Wall Street Journal -o- Buzz Photo: Image of ‘Uncontacted’ Amazon Tribe Draws Eyes to a Cause Mail Online -o- Incredible pictures of one of Earth's last uncontacted tribes firing bows and arrows The Independent -o- The Amazonian tribe that hid from the rest of the world – until now

The recently released photos have indeed raised awareness if you haven't noticed them already in the news... I have included just a few links to the recent stories so that you might catch up on your reading.

It just struck me how similar this would be to our view on UFOs. We see these strange things beyond our technology and perhaps beyond belief flying above our homes and threatening our safety and perhaps our way of life. In haste we bring out our best defenses, which also happen to be our best offenses, though probably the wisest among us know that likely they would do little good. In truth, a well aimed arrow might take down a helicopter or light plane, perhaps a well placed missile might to a UFO do the same?

Some of the articles mention just how poorly these tribes do in the wake of meeting up with "civilization". "First contact is often completely catastrophic for "uncontacted" tribes. It's not unusual for 50 percent of the tribe to die in months after first contact," said Miriam Ross, a campaigner with the Indian rights group Survival International. "They don't generally have immunity to diseases common to outside society. Colds and flu that aren't usually fatal to us can completely wipe them out." (The Associated Press - Brazil says uncontacted Amazon tribe threatened by Michael Aster)

I wonder what might be a comparison to our world of deforestation of space or encroachment of the Earth by alien interests? Are we watched by alien anthropologists? Do our airforce pilots look like black, orange, and yellow painted archers to them?

Perhaps there aren't UFO aliens out there flying back with holorecordertransmitters sending back images of us poor primatives and recording our plight so that the rest of the galaxy might take not and save the space forest - but it does make you think doesn't it?

Later!
~ Darrell

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