Thousands of dolphins block Somali pirates

[Ian David]

Source: Xinhuanet

BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Thousands of dolphins blocked the suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships passing the Gulf of Aden, the China Radio International reported on Monday.

The Chinese merchant ships escorted by a China's fleet sailed on the Gulf of Aden when they met some suspected pirate ships. Thousands of dolphins suddenly leaped out of water between pirates and merchants when the pirate ships headed for the China's.

The suspected pirates ships stopped and then turned away. The pirates could only lament their littleness befor the vast number of dolphins. The spectacular scene continued for a while.

China initiated its three-ship escort task force on Dec. 26 last year after the United Nations Security Council called on countries to patrol gulf and waters off Somalia, one of the world's busiest marine routes, where surging piracy endangered intercontinental shipping.


Thousands of dolphins blocked the suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships passing the Gulf of Aden, the China Radio International reported on Monday.(Photo: Cri.cn)


Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/14/content_11184581.htm

---

Seriously?

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Blocked them how?

[Ian David]

4. I guess the Somali pirates were afraid to drive their boat through the pod of leaping dolphins?

Why do you question the Free and Glorious Press of the Great People's Republic of China?

I find your lack of faith disturbing...

[FiveGoodMen]

15. !

:rofl: :toast:

[damntexdem]

33. Yes, but did any of those dolphins have lasers attached to their heads?

Let's face it, sharks with lasers would be less effective than dolphins with lasers, because the latter could leap high out of the water to zap the pirates.

[The Backlash Cometh]

56. First of all, people have been killed off the coast of Florida when they

got hit by leaping fish, much smaller than a dolphin. Secondly, if this is so, the Navy needs to recognize those dolphins as some satient force and stop killing them with sonar!

[Jamastiene]

59. zOMG

:spray:

:rofl:

[Cal Carpenter]

2. Did they have laser-beams on their heads?

Why is this cracking me up? :rofl:

[Ian David]

5. Maybe...

[EFerrari]

6. "Fa loves Pa!"

[IndianaGreen]

21. Day of the Dolphin was a great movie

loved it when the evil President's yacht blew up.

[DJ13]

8. ..........

[ellie]

43. Maybe they were ill-tempered.

[lazer47]

3. Don't do this,, The right wing nut jobs will get ahold of this

and swear it was all JeeeZAS,,,

[drm604]

9. JeeeZAS protecting the Chinese Communists? n/t

[IndianaGreen]

23. Were they gay dolphins?

Oh, the horror!

:-)

[lazer47]

26. I'll get TSed for this, but best we could tell they are NAVY DOLPHINS

I'll go to hell for this surley,,

[rcrush]

7. You think those dolphins are bad ass?

Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/sep/25/usa.theobserver

It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.

Leo Sheridan, 72, a respected accident investigator who has worked for government and industry, said he had received intelligence from sources close to the US government's marine fisheries service confirming dolphins had escaped.

'My concern is that they have learnt to shoot at divers in wetsuits who have simulated terrorists in exercises. If divers or windsurfers are mistaken for a spy or suicide bomber and if equipped with special harnesses carrying toxic darts, they could fire,' he said. 'The darts are designed to put the target to sleep so they can be interrogated later, but what happens if the victim is not found for hours?'

Usually dolphins were controlled via signals transmitted through a neck harness. 'The question is, were these dolphins made secure before Katrina struck?' said Sheridan.

The mystery surfaced when a separate group of dolphins was washed from a commercial oceanarium on the Mississippi coast during Katrina. Eight were found with the navy's help, but the dolphins were not returned until US navy scientists had examined them.

Sheridan is convinced the scientists were keen to ensure the dolphins were not the navy's, understood to be kept in training ponds in a sound in Louisiana, close to Lake Pontchartrain, whose waters devastated New Orleans.

The navy launched the classified Cetacean Intelligence Mission in San Diego in 1989, where dolphins, fitted with harnesses and small electrodes planted under their skin, were taught to patrol and protect Trident submarines in harbour and stationary warships at sea.

Criticism from animal rights groups ensured the use of dolphins became more secretive. But the project gained impetus after the Yemen terror attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Dolphins have also been used to detect mines near an Iraqi port.





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[Ian David]

11. Did Bush ever re-capture the 36 Osama Bin Dolphins? n/t

[rcrush]

16. No I heard 36 coral reefs were suicide bombed by dolphins recently.

[slackmaster]

10. DOLPHINS SUPPORT ILLEGAL DUMPING AND TRAWLING BY EVIL EUORPEANS AND AMERICANS!

:hide:

[Sanity Claws]

12. They were Narwhals, not dolphins!

[Ian David]

14. IIRC, Narwhals are Arctic mammals. n/t

[Sanity Claws]

18. They brought along some broken off ice shelf to keep cool!

Go, Narwhals, go!

[bettyellen]

44. LOL!

[ozu]

60. NARWHAL POWER! -nt

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. No doubt they trained under the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program

I hear the pay beats SeaWorld.

[Sebastian Doyle]

17. And somewhere beyond this realm, Douglas Adams is laughing his ass off

Now we just need to know how the mice are going to react.....

[IndianaGreen]

25. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish!

Awaiting arrival of Vogon fleet!

:scared:

[FloridaJudy]

45. As long as I don't have to

Listen to any Vogon poetry, I'm cool with that.

[TheCowsCameHome]

19. Maybe they were man-eating sharks diguised as dolphins.

Yum.

[Ian David]

20. "I'm only a dolphin, Ma'am." n/t

[merh]

39. I'm only a dolphin ma'am

http://www.spike.com/video/land-shark/2802070

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/saturday-night-live-season-1-land-shark/1415496980



:rofl:

[Sydnie]

22. Mr Limpet, is that you?

[CoffeeCat]

46. Ladyfish?

Is that you?

LOL!

Love that movie!

[noamnety]

24. OMG dolphins are now trying to attack merchant ships?!!!

"Thousands of dolphins blocked the suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships"

[tomm2thumbs]

27. holding out for sardines again - 'if you don't throw sardines, you can't pass thru'

used to be you could get through this world with just a pocket full of krill and now it's like you have to have a bin of sardines to go ANYwhere!

[biopowertoday]

28. Sweet. Peace dolphins.

[ohio2007]

29. US defense tax $ at work

LOL

[HopeHoops]

30. No NARWHALS?!?!?!

Shit!!!1

[AnneD]

31. Talk about luck.....

[Buns_of_Fire]

32. The moral here, of course, is that you don't f**k with Flipper!

BTW, Flipper was a lady... http://www.scubatampa.com/flipper.html :7

[ardvark]

34. dolphins are racist

this has nothing to do with piracy

[Lasher]

53. See, those dolphins are eating fish that belong to Somalia!

Pooping in their coastal waters too. That makes all ships in the area the rightful property of Samalis.

[ngant17]

35. looks like the dolphins were feeding

and obviously a large school of fish were nearby. I assume this part of the Arabian Sea is especially rich in marine life. Plus lack of large-scale commercial fisheries.

There are probably large groups of dolphins which frequent this area and normally no one pays any attention to it.

[Deja Q]

36. If only the Somalis bribed the dolphins with fish. Tuna fish. Laced with melamine and lead paint.

:9

:silly:

:crazy:

[happygoluckytoyou]

37. in a related story... FOX news reports that Dolphins carrying WMDs are radio controled by OBAMA !

[RedCloud]

38. Where's Dan Marino?

Dolphins indeed! Not a one in uniform!

[Phoonzang]

40. Bit late for an April fools joke.

I find this incredibly hard to believe.

[rpannier]

41. Hey you Cynic

This comes straight from the official news organization of the Chinese government.

Ergo it must be true.

[Phoonzang]

47. Yep. God forbid I question the veracity of the free Chinese press.

Oh sorry...did I say God? I didn't mean it. *waves little red book*

[KamaAina]

42. Caca de toro

Dolphins might appear in a "superpod" of a thousand or so, under rare circumstances, but "thousands"? Ummm... no.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphins#Social_behaviour

Dolphins are social, living in pods (also called "schools") of up to a dozen individuals. In places with a high abundance of food, pods can join temporarily, forming an aggregation called a superpod; such groupings may exceed a thousand dolphins.

[Bosso 63]

48. For what porpoise?

[jb5150]

49. Was aquaman involved?

[Lasher]

50. Dolphins defeat Pirates, 21-0

Wait a minute, different sports. Sorry.

[jmondine]

51. First the SEALs, now the dolphins

Go marine mammals! Woohoo!

[get the red out]

52. Now the far far far left will hate dolphins

so sad. We will be told we have to hate the dolphins now.

[panzerfaust]

54. ? Because God is on the side of the Godless-Commie Red Chinese ??

[mainegreen]

55. 'Lamented their littleness'? Was there also wailing and gnashing of teeth?

good lord, Fake Chinese News (tm) is really of a poor quality.

[armodem08]

57. Three problems with the picture/story

1) The vantage point. This picture was taken from what looks to be the pirates' point of view, if not the Chinese naval vessels'.

2) Xinhuanet.com. This is the English language version of the Chinese state media, so anything they say is automatically suspect when there is no independent corroboration.

3) Couldn't the dolphins jumping out of the water be explained by the Chinese navy using high power sonar to measure the range to the approaching pirates? While some major altruistic actions by dolphins can't be ruled out, doesn't this seem much more probable?

Rant over.

[Ian David]

58. Why do you question the Free and Glorious Press of the Great People's Republic of China? n/t

[Chovexani]

61. They should have known better than to fuck around in Sao Feng's territory

I bet those dolphins were on his payroll.