Burmese dolphins

Jonah Fisher posted a story on the BBC about dolphins that help Burmese fishermen. 

It is also similar to an excerpt that was written for the upcoming Shwe Lan Ga Lay meditator's guidebook:


"Keep a sharp eye out towards the Ayeyarwaddy River, where dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) are known to swim. While most dolphins are salt water species, the ones here live in fresh water, and have actually been referenced by Chinese travelers as far back as in the first century (known then as “river pigs”). From time to time they can be spotted outside of Mingun (and as far away from here as the towns of Khetthin and Sintgu) just after the monsoon season when the water levels go down and baby dolphins are seen with their mother. This may also be one of the few places in the world where the sea-faring mammals interact and even work together with local human inhabitants. When the fishers head out in their wooden canoes, they make a small tap with their wooden mallets, whereupon the dolphins go out in pairs to encircle a school of fish. After signaling with their tails which way the fish are swimming, nets are cast down to get the fish. The technique is handed down in fisher communities for generations, and apparently within the dolphin community as well. The fishers have also freed ensnared dolphins from nets and protected them from hunters."