194 WHALES 



from time to time, to return to their work of mercy the moment they had 

 filled their own lungs. The same behaviour was also observed when one 

 of a group of Bottlenose Dolphins which was being put into a tank 

 bumped its head against a wall and sank to the bottom in a dazed state. 

 Similar actions are reported from Marineland, Florida, where two dolphins 

 supported an injured friend for twenty minutes until he had regained 

 sufficient strength to swim alone. 



Mutual aid, however, is not the general rule among all Cetaceans, and 

 Schevill, \vho was present when one of a school of twelve Whitesided 



Figure 104. Two Bottlenose Dolphins supporting a wounded congener. {Siebenaler and 



Caldwell, 1956.) 



Dolphins was harpooned off Cape Cod, reports that the others not only 

 ignored the animal, which floated for some ten minutes, but even swam 

 away from it. Jonsgard, too, reports that during the capture of fifty-two 

 of these animals somewhere in Norway, none of them paid any attention 

 to his comrades' fate. The behaviour of their Pacific relatives {Lagenorhyn- 

 chus obliquidens) , however, seems to be somewhat more comradely. Hubbs 

 (1953J tells us that an injured individual was surrounded by his friends 

 and carried away from the ship. Brown and Norris (1956) reported a 

 similar experience with this species. On the other hand. Common 

 Dolphins in the North Pacific are said to desert their wounded. During 

 porpoise hunts in Denmark, it appeared that these animals are, in fact, 

 frightened off by their wounded comrade's cry and actually avoid the 

 danger spot for some time. 



Some Cetaceans respond to the cry of wounded comrades, and 

 that thev come to their assistance from considerable distances, has 



