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[ti:Porpoises]
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[00:01.49]Lesson 18
[00:03.31]Porpoises
[00:10.62]What would you say is the main characteristic of porpoises?
[00:17.06]There has long been a superstition among mariners that porpoises will save drowning men by pushing them to the surface,
[00:25.54]or protect them from sharks by surrounding them in defensive formation.
[00:31.72]Marine Studio biologists have pointed out that, however intelligent they may be, it is probably a mistake to credit dolphins with any motive of life-saving.
[00:43.54]On the occasions when they have pushed to shore an unconscious human being they have much more likely done it out of curiosity or for sport,
[00:53.55]as in riding the bow waves of a ship.
[00:57.55]In 1928 some porpoises were photographed working like beavers to push ashore a waterlogged mattress.
[01:06.19]If, as has been reported, they have protected humans from sharks,
[01:11.15]it may have been because curiosity attracted them and because the scent of a possible meal attracted the sharks.
[01:18.95]Porpoises and sharks are natural enemies.
[01:22.48]It is possible that upon such an occasion a battle ensued, with the sharks being driven away or killed.
[01:31.19]Whether it be bird, fish or beast, the porpoise is intrigued with anything that is alive.
[01:38.09]They are constantly after the turtles, who peacefully submit to all sorts of indignities.