Mahia Beach's dolphin, Moko, wants more playmates

Moko the dolphin has lived at Mahia Beach, New Zealand for two years now, and loves her human companions. Moko normally has hundreds of playmates in the summer, but it is winter in New Zealand and Moko hasn't had as many playmates as normal.

The lonely dolphin, Moko, is most famous around Mahia Beach for her rescue of two pygmy sperm whales last year. The mother and daughter pair were reported to be lost and becoming exhausted, and were at risk of being stranded when Moko swam into the picture and led the mother and daughter whales safely out of the area and back to the ocean proper. Humans had been working hard to save the whales, to no avail. Moko is a bottlenose dolphin, and she has been living around the Grisbane area, all by herself, for about two years now. It is thought that Moko is about three years old. It is not uncommon for lone dolphins to attach themselves to a geographic location, although this behaviour creates concerns for the safety of lone dolphins. In Moko's case, a scientist said that she has scars on her body from encounters with a boat propeller and a fishing hook. The New Zealand government warns people not to play with Moko, both for Moko's safety, and for human safety. One of the warnings is that dolphins sometimes have a hard time letting their playmates go home. Which is exactly what Moko did yesterday evening. A young woman donned a wetsuit as protection against the cold water and went alone into the waters at Mahia Beach to play with Moko. When the woman was through playing, she attempted to head back to land, but Moko wasn't ready to stop playing and wouldn't let the woman return to land. The woman resorted to holding on to a buoy, and called for help. Rescuers went out into a dingy and rescued the woman. The woman, who didn't give her name, doesn't blame Moko at all, instead blaming herself. She shouldn't have gone out alone, and shouldn't have gone when she did - nearing dark and close to when the tide was due to come in. She got cold, she said, and panicked. Bottlenose dolphins are the species most people are familiar with, not least because of the old television program, Flipper. This species of dolphin is most commonly used in marine entertainment centers and for research. Credited with high intelligence and empathy for humans, particularly those experiencing illness or disability, humans have had a love affair with dolphins for a very long time. Some of the reasons why humans continue to have relationships with people include the train-ability of dolphins, as well as their sense of play. There is some controversy over the sex of Moko, with many maintaining that Moko is female, hence Moko is referred to as female in this story.