AOTEAROA.

CAVORTING DUSKIES VIDEO

DOLPHINS USING ECHOLOCATION VIDEO


Distribution of Hector’s and Māui’s dolphins

Hector’s dolphins are found along the east coast of the South Island, from South Canterbury to Marlborough and Tasman Bay. They are found down the West Coast to Jackson Bay, and have also been sighted in Fiordland. On the south coast, two bays east and west of Invercargill have Hector’s dolphins. Māui’s dolphin is an isolated subspecies found only along the north-west coast of the North Island from Dargaville to New Plymouth. Both types occur only within a few kilometres of the coast. In 1988 a sanctuary was created around Banks Peninsula to protect Hector’s dolphins, and in the North Island set nets are banned along a section of the west coast.


Bottlenose dolphin

The bottlenose dolphin has a distinctive rounded forehead or ‘melon’, and a long, blunt beak. A dark band runs between its eyes. A piece of seaweed is floating in front of this dolphin’s beak.


Pakicetus, whale and dolphin ancestor

This reconstruction of Pakicetus, the earliest cetacean, is based on skeletons found in the Punjab region of Pakistan. The ear region of the skull resembles fossil and modern whales, and the teeth and other features are similar to those of some fossil whales.


Southern right whale dolphins

Southern right whale dolphins are seen only occasionally, being a mainly offshore species. Like right whales, they lack a dorsal fin. Instead, their stability comes from their unusual body shape, which is wider than it is deep. They are normally black and white, but entirely black individuals have also been seen.



.... WHALES AND DOLPHINS ....Maori Mythology.

Tinirau, who kept whales as pets, is also regarded as their progenitor. In one whakapapa he is known as marrying Te Wehengakauki. Their child Tutarakauika married Paraniwaniwa, and all their offspring were whales...
The great sea creatures were often the servants of humankind. They were guides to oceangoing canoes and on several occasions carried men on their backs.

PELORUS JACK.
The famous Risso's dolphin known as Pelorus Jack, which for more than twentyfive years escorted vessels to the entrance of the French Pass, and which was protected by a special Act of Parliament, became an almost legendary figure, in its own lifetime. It disappeared at the end of 1916, but its true legendary origin goes back much further than the Pakeha's records.
Long before the arrival of the first white men, there were two men who lived by the shores of the Pelorus Sound. They both loved the same young women. She chose one of them as her husband, which so enraged Ruru, the rejected suitor, that he picked her up, carried her to the edge of a cliff and flung her over. She fell on the rocks far below and was killed.
The other young man had witnessed the murder but was unable to intervene as he was too far away. The girl was dead when he arrived. He rushed towards Ruru, without waiting to recover his breath, hurled himself upon his rival. Ruru had little difficulty in overcoming him and his body followed his lover's onto the rocks. In his madness, Ruru uttered a malignant curse, calling on the gods to destroy the soul and body of the young man--- a curse so profound and powerful that it entered the mind of a dolphin and killed it... As Ruru watched from the hilltop, the waves lifted the grey body and rolled it onto the sand.
The madness ebbed from Ruru's brain and he realised with horror what he had done. Three bodies lay broken or stranded on the beach because of the blind rage that had overwhelmed him. He went to the tohunga of his tribe and told him what he had done and asked for his help. The tohunga was angry. Ruru must be punished for his temerity. Using his powers of maakatu, the tohunga forced the wairua of Ruru into the body of the stranded dolphin, giving it life, and commanding it to remain there for all time and to meet every canoe that entered the French Pass.
Years passed by and the soul of Ruru in the body of the dolphin, known as Kaikaiawaro, carried out it's long penance. Each year he returned to the tohunga to seek release, but the tohunga refused his request. The priest died; with fresh hope Ruru begged the new tohunga to put an end to his lonely vigil, but no one except the old priest had power to release him. The centuries rolled on and Ruru escorted the canoes with an aching heart.
Time brought changes. The Pakeha came, the Maori population dwindled, settlements sprang up in the sheltered bays and ships began to shuttle through the strait. Ruru continued his vigil until the year 1916, but has never been seen since.
Is he dead ? Is the long atonement over ? Has the wairua of the aged tohunga released the wairua of Ruru from the body of the dolphin ? Who can tell ?