Page 124 - Devotion Among Animals Revealing the Work of God

DEVOTION AMONG ANIMALS

impossible for the hawk to dive into the flock. If it did, it would
likely injure its wings and no longer be able to hunt. 118
When their herd comes under attack, mammals too act as one
body. When zebras run from predators, they position their young in
the middle of the herd. During her observations in east Africa,
English scientist Jane Goodall saw three zebras, separated from the
rest of their herd, being surrounded by wild dogs. Other members
of the herd, realizing that three of their own were in danger, re-
turned to attack the predators with their hooves and teeth, and
drove them away to save the three zebras. 119
Generally, when a herd of zebras comes under attack, the herd's
leader runs to the rear, while the females and foals run up front. The
stallion runs in zigzags, kicks out with his hind legs. He's even been
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observed to it turns the battle around and chase the attacker.
Dolphins too swim in shoals and defend themselves as a group
against sharks, their greatest enemies. If the shark comes danger-
ously close to their young, two adult dolphins will split off from the
others and draw the shark towards themselves. With the shark's at-
tention diverted, the other dolphins will quickly surround it and
begin to deal blows to its gills until it drowns. 121
In an even more interesting behavior, families of dolphins will
usually swim with shoals of tuna and feed with them. For this reason,
tuna fishermen will follow dolphins for a good place to cast their nets.
Sometimes dolphins get caught in the nets meant for tuna. Since dol-
phins are air-breathing mammals, they panic when caught in the net,
suffer shock, and begin sinking to the bottom. Because of their devo-
tion, other members of the dolphin family immediately come to its
aid. They all follow the dolphin down, trying to push it back up.
Sadly, as they cannot breathe, often they drown too.
This is not an isolated instance affecting just one dolphin fam-
ily. All dolphins show the same devotion under similar circum-
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stances.

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