Mothers are incredible: how about adopting an orphan who is completely different and even 6.5 times bigger than you? That’s exactly what happened off the coast of New Zealand.
Ocean researchers recently beberked a baby pilot whale and a young bottlenose dolphin together. It may seem like a coincidence, but a little more than a month later they were met again. There could be no doubt: The mother dolphin adopted the baby whale. It’s true, he won’t be crumbs for long: Adult pilot whales grow up to 6 meters long and weigh 300 tons.
The fact that the porpoise adopted someone else’s baby is not surprising. Porpoises are incredibly smart. They understand words and sign language, can copy human behavior and recognize themselves in the mirror. Probably, with such a mind, they are not alien to the concept of kindness. From time to time scientists notice porpoises adopted the alien children, but the dolphin has never adopted such a giant.
Perhaps it is a matter of irresistible maternal instinct, or maybe this is the conscious behavior of the porpoise – scientists do not yet know for sure. When the dolphin lost her baby and the whale lost her mother, they were irresistibly drawn to each other to fill the gap in their hearts left after the loss.
Perhaps dolphins are capable of selfless kindness, not due to instinct. It’s incredibly touching.
Bottlenose dolphins have a very strong bond between mother and child, especially if they are the same sex. These dolphins live in generations of families: mothers, grandmothers and daughters.
Unfortunately, the whale cannot integrate into the dolphin family. When the baby grows up, the mother has to leave it. The fact is that whales and dolphins have a completely different hunting technique and must be fed separately.
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