Dolphin Befriends a Group of Marine Biologists
ASIEH NAMDAR, CNN ANCHOR: Dolphins are among the ocean's most intelligent inhabitants. Research indicates the mammals are more similar to humans in more ways than we can possibly image.</s>SHIHAB RATTANSI, CNN ANCHOR: And one very unusual member of this marine species is the focus of a special six-part report on our program. In the second segment, Network Ten's Melody Horrill takes us on a unique journey to Southern Australia -- Melody.</s>MELODY HORRILL, NETWORK TEN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Last week, we introduced you to a very special dolphin called Jock who lived in the highly-polluted Port River in Adelaide, South Australia. Jock was orphaned at a very young age and was never taught social skills, so he didn't know how to interact with the other dolphins, leaving him lonely and frustrated. I was part of a small group of people who befriended Jock. Our aim was to fill that void of loneliness in his life, and an exhilarating friendship developed. And this is my very personal account of that story. So please, sit back, relax, and enjoy part two of "The Dance With a Dolphin." (voice-over): Mike Bossley's first encounter with the dolphin he would later name Jock came back in 1988. On a family visit to Adelaide's Port River, he noticed RSPCA crews organizing rescue boats.</s>MIKE BOSSLEY, MARINE BIOLOGIST: And I went over and I asked them what was happening, and they told me that there was a dolphin in the adjacent area that had fishing line tangled all around its fin and they were hoping to be able to catch it and to remove it. So, I went to give them a hand, but as it turned out, we couldn't catch him, he eluded us by swimming through the boats.</s>HORRILL: And that wasn't the only time Jock had needed a helping hand. In 1986, this was third time lucky for rescue crews. They have been trying for week to catch Jock and remove a tangled mess of fishing line and hooks. That incident left Jock with a disfigured dorsal fin. But the time Dr. Bossley began studying him, the deformity had worsened. But Jock was still living alone in a small harbor. His haven was unnaturally warm. Water heated by the Torrens Island power station sometimes created an eerie blanket of steam. And Jock's behavior also seemed unnatural.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we first met Jock, he was a very solitary, lonely animal. He spent most of his time circling around an old boat behind the power station. Gradually, over a period of weeks and months, he became curious about us, about these people that continued to sit in this boat and just watch him, and sometimes we could feel him circling around the boat, and gradually he initiated contact.</s>BOSSLEY: That feeling of being out in the boat and suddenly there would be this whoosh and he would appear right beside you. That was pretty special, because he had come from wherever he was, probably fishing, and giving up his breakfast just because he wanted to come and relate to us for a while. That made you feel really special.</s>HORRILL: And as the months passed, Jock's behavior became even more unusual, allowing things to get physical.</s>BOSSLEY: One day, a really interesting thing happened. We were out in the boat, and suddenly I saw a canoe paddle drifting down the stream that he was playing with. And he was flicking us around, and so I just watched it, and gradually he brought the canoe paddle closer and closer, until eventually he brought it right to the side of the boat. So, for some reason, I don't quite know why, but I was in shallow water, so I hopped in, grabbed the canoe paddle, and I was just in waist-deep water, and he came in right beside me, and so I put the paddle out and touched him with the paddle. And he seemed to really enjoy that, because he came up and sort of nudged the paddle back again. So, I ended up spending -- I can't remember, 35, 40 minutes, I suppose -- in the water, stroking him like he was a big pussycat or something with this paddle, and he just lay on the top of water, just grooving to this. It was quite a remarkable, amazing really experience.</s>HORRILL: Visits like that continued for more than a year. During that time, Jock avoided skin contact, but then, to Mike's amazement, the lonely dolphin decided to reach out and touch his human friends.</s>BOSSLEY: Touching him with your hands or</s>HORRILL: Almost immediately, close physical and emotional bonds were forged, blossoming into unprecedented and exhilarating friendships. Trust was implicit on both sides.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you are in there with this dolphin, not only could he touch you physically, which he was very happy to do and sought that contact, but he could touch you in a way that was totally foreign, that was with his sonar. This other</s>HORRILL: Jock would wait for our visits at the boat ramp, and if for some reason we didn't feel like swimming, he made it clear that wasn't good enough.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At times, if we didn't initiate the contact with the paddle or if we didn't get in the water with him, he would throw himself against the side of the boat constantly -- sometimes it looked like he was going to land in the boat -- until we would get in the water with him.</s>HORRILL: Jock would also drop more subtle hints by nudging the ladder, and when the swim was over, he would do his best to keep us in the water.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I tried to get out of water, he would grab my foot with his mouth.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very gently, I might add.</s>HORRILL: At the end of the day, he would follow us into perilously shallow water, trying to convince us to stay. Sometimes, heading back to the harbor was the most spectacular part of the day. Jock would leap for joy in the boat's wake, with an impressive display of stamina and grace.</s>HORRILL (on camera): Next week, we will tell you how we tried to reintroduce Jock back into dolphin society. Back to you, Shihab.</s>RATTANSI: Thank you very much, Melody. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com