Time Magazine

Time was running out for the mother whale and her calf as they lay beached on a sandbank.
Wildlife volunteers had tried four times to drag them into deeper water but four times the stranded mammals came back.

But then up bobbed Moko the dolphin – a playful creature familiar to bathers off the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. In an astonishing display of communication between species, she and the whales were heard to call to one another before she led the 12ft pygmy sperm whale and her 4ft male calf out to open sea.

Would-be-rescuer, Juanita Symes was right in middle of the failing rescue attempt. “Moko just came flying through the water and pushed in between us and the whales. She got them to head towards the hill, where the channel is. It was an amazing experience. The best day of my life.”

“I never cease to be amazed by some wondrous events in the animal world, but this beats them all,” said Malcolm Smith from the New Zealand Conservation Department. “Moko is a real heroine because there is absolutely no doubt she learned of the whales’ plight through some kind of telepathy and then got them out of trouble.