Disabled
Dolphin Jumping Again With World's First Artificial Fin
A dolphin
named Fuji jumps out of the water with an artificial rubber
fin at an
aquarium in Okinawa. Fuji, a female dolphin that lost 75%
of her tail due to a
mysterious disease, is jumping once again with the help of
what is believed to be
the world's first artificial fin, developed by Bridgestone
Corp.
The company
announced that the amputated tail of the 34-year-old dolphin
has been
replaced through the application of its tire technology.
Fuji is currently
residing in a large aquarium in Okinawa. She wears the
rubber fin
for about 20 minutes a day allowing her to jump and to
swim at the same speed of
other dolphins.
Fuji initially
rejected the artificial fin, which in its current version
weighs two
kilograms with a width of 48 centimeters.
The breeders
decided not to keep Fuji's fin on all day fearing that
it may fall off
and be eaten or destroyed by other dolphins.
Fuji was
stricken by a mysterious disease causing necrosis ó the
death of cellsó in 2002. To save her life, veterinarians had to amputate
three-quarters of her
tail with an electronic surgical knife.
"
Her physical mobility fell sharply after the amputation.
She got tired easily as
we often saw her resting," said a breeder at the
Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.
Weeks after
the surgery, a veterinarian at the aquarium asked his friend
at
Bridgestone, Japan's largest tiremaker, for help. "
The most difficult part was creating the smooth texture
of rubber so as not to
scratch a dolphin's skin," said Bridgestone
spokesman Shinichi Kobori.
Bridgestone
began working on the fin in 2003, but several samples were
either too
heavy or loose for Fuji, which is 271 centimeters
long and weighs 227 kilograms.
"
Only after we created the lightest fin in August 2004,
we received a call from
the aquarium that Fuji finally jumped," Kobori
said.
The latest
fin is kept in one piece by bolts. An aquarium
worker said putting on
the artificial fin was anything but easy.
"
She was so scared of the object. It took us five months
to make her get used
to the artificial fin. Now she is perfectly fine with
it," he
said.
Bridgestone
donated the artificial fin to the aquarium, but a spokesman
said it
cost the company about 10 million yen to develop.
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Air
Force Spots New Dolphin Species
Pods of Fraser's
dolphins, a species never before recorded in New Zealand
waters,
have been spotted by the air force, reinforcing the country's
claim to be the
marine mammal capital of the world.
Marine mammal
expert Alan Baker today identified the species from air
force
photographs taken on November 9, 2004. The crew
of an air force Orion, on a regular patrol of New Zealand's
Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ), spotted signals of dolphins on the
aircraft radar, 240km
north-northeast of Cape Reinga.
On investigating
further, the crew sighted four pods of dolphins and took
digital photos.
Dr Baker
said today he suspected that the dolphins were Fraser's
dolphins
when shown the photos this week, and sought independent
advice from a
dolphin scientist in Japan.
"
I have confirmation from Grant Abel at Shimonoseki Aquarium.
He figured,
like me, that their location, shape of head, color pattern,
and the size
of the pod would suggest either dusky or Fraser's dolphin
at first look,
but it's too far north for duskies, and the dorsal fin
is too low and sub
sub-triangular, and there is no white on the upper flanks
behind the fin."
Department
of Conservation national marine mammal co-ordinator Rob
Suistead
said that the sighting brought the number of marine mammal
species found in
New Zealand waters to 51.
"
That's more than any other country and shows why some people
regard New
Zealand as the marine mammal capital of the world."
He said that
two years ago New Zealand only had 48 species recorded
in
territorial waters.
"
Since then we've had a Ross seal at Waikanae, normally only
seen in remote
parts of Antarctica, and two ginkgo-toothed whales, a 6-metre
beaked whale
first described in the 1950s and one of the least-known animals
on the planet.
"
It's a good spin off from the air force's routine patrolling
when they can
deploy their surveillance equipment like this. I'm pleased
they contacted us,
and look forward to more sightings in the future."
While much
was known about marine mammals around New Zealand's coasts,
little
was known of whales and dolphins throughout the EEZ, Mr
Suisted said.
Fraser's
dolphin (Lagenodelphis hosei) was first described in 1970.
Dr Baker,
in his 1983 book Whales And Dolphins of New Zealand and
Australia, predicted
that Fraser's dolphins"may be expected in the far north
of New Zealand".
They are known to herd in numbers of up to 500, grow up to
2.4m.
The species
was given its Latin name by the late Dr Francis Fraser,
curator
of marine mammals, British Museum of Natural History. |
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