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Science Technology

Dolphin Jumps Again with Artificial Fin 256

Posted by michael from the laser-not-included dept.
Ant writes "This Yahoo! News story mentions Fuji, a mother dolphin that lost 75 percent of her tail due to a mysterious disease, being able to jump again with the help of what is believed to be the world's first artificial fin. The 34-year-old dolphin held at Japan's largest aquarium in the southern island of Okinawa wears the rubber fin for about 20 minutes a day allowing her to jump and to swim at the same speed of other dolphins."
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Dolphin Jumps Again with Artificial Fin More

Dolphin Jumps Again with Artificial Fin

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  • First Porpoise! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bob McCown ( 8411 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:02AM (#10863486)
    First Porpoise!

  • Oh great ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Average_Joe_Sixpack ( 534373 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:02AM (#10863487)
    Not looking forward to artificial fin chunks in my Tuna sandwich

  • Hmmm... (Score:5, Funny)

    by MonoSynth ( 323007 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:04AM (#10863493) Homepage
    I expected that dolphin to be red with 'Marlboro', 'Shell' and 'Vodafone' painted on its other fins...

  • I for one, welcome... (Score:5, Funny)

    by felonius maximus ( 601940 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:04AM (#10863498)
    our bionic dolphin masters.
    • It's supposed to be...

      I, for one, welcome our new artificial fin wearing, dolphin jumping overlords.

      • Yeah, I know, I picked it up only about thirty minutes after I wrote it.

        However, I'm drunk. So fuck youse all.

      • The moderators think otherwise. While definately not applicable to positive Informative/Insightful moderation, the validity of positive Funny moderation has to be trusted. Kinda like "the customer is always right," ... "the moderator is always right" when it comes to humor. In addition, I assert that this post will be modded +500 Genius Insight and will land me the Nobel Prize of Slashdottery. Er, yeah. hehe

    • H2G2 (Score:2, Funny)

      by cybersavior ( 716002 )
      Well, they are the second most intelligent animal on our planet....

  • Dolphins eat rubber? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by xmas2003 ( 739875 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:05AM (#10863504) Homepage
    I was confused by this statement in the article - " 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." - I've read that sharks will eat just about anything, but do dolphins eat rubber?

  • Artifical foot? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Poltras ( 680608 )
    I wonder where we are in bio research, getting humans able to walk, run, jump at the speed of other humans.

    • Re:Artifical foot? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:17AM (#10863582) Homepage
      every year there are a few people with artificial legs at the boston marathon.

      and these people can run faster than the typical human. but not fast enough to win, some really thin guy from kenya always does that.

      • Re:Artifical foot? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by danila ( 69889 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:48AM (#10863819) Homepage
        Andrew Lourake is an American jet pilot [cnn.com], who had his leg amputeed in 1998. Now he has a C-Leg [ottobockus.com] and in October 2004 he returned to his job. He works for the federal government carrying government officials, congressmen and the like in the C-20 Gulfstream. During the training his performance during some exercises (saving passengers from a burning plane after a crash, for example) was better than that of two healthy novice pilots training together with him.
        • In World War II, there was an RAF Spitfire pilot who continued to fly (and dogfight) after losing both legs. Either they guy was extremely brave or totally nuts. My guess is both.
          • The interesting thing is that then it was considered an extraordinary accomplishment, a heroic act, but nowadays it's just the matter of persuading your insurance company to foot the bill. Wonders of progress.
      • Not that I ever fook forward to loosing my lower legs, but if I do I can think of a few possible alternatives [umich.edu] to traditional prostetics... Why try to restore natural function when you can have something better?

        =Smidge=

    • Re:Artifical foot? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by CreatureComfort ( 741652 ) * on Friday November 19, 2004 @11:05AM (#10864008)

      In the current Survivor:Vanuatu one of the contestants has an artificial lower leg. He is one of the best competitors in the physical challenges. The only test that he seems to have a bit more trouble than the others in is walking a narrow balance beam. He was voted off last night after 29(?) days and making it to the final 8.

      Depending on whether you believe they actually live in that shelter on the beach for 39 days when the cameras aren't turned on or not, his leg doesn't seem to be having any trouble with the salt water, sand, dirt, etc. I'm actually very interested in seeing some interviews with him after the show ends on some of the particular problems he faced with it.

    • Re:Artifical foot? (Score:3, Informative)

      by TigerNut ( 718742 )
      There's quite a bit going on both in the academic world and by prosthetics manufacturers. One of the bigger struggles is getting an amputee a prosthetic that's suitable for what they're going to be doing - a foot optimized for running looks a lot different from a foot that's designed to look like a foot and that you'd wear with ordinary footwear.
      Without turning this into a shill for our products, the company I work for makes an inertial-sensor based activity monitor that helps doctors choose an appropriate
    • I don't want to walk, run and jump at the speeds of other humans. I want SUPERHUMAN abilities. Someone slap some doctor octopus arms on me, yeah baby! No more fumbling for keys and groceries when I get home from work! No more having to take my hands off the keyboard to get a drink... or use the mouse... No more trying to contain million-degree balls of plasma with my bare hands! I'd do it in a heartbeat!

      Also, want to be able to see into infra-red.

      • When you have a physical disability, you don't spend much of your time imagining superhuman compensations. You spend your time trying to cope with the nasty limitations real life gives you. Instead of imagining super-vision, you imagine being able to see normally so you can drive. It might not be the inspiration for comic book heroes, but it fits those loved ones I know who are impaired.

  • Ob Austin Powers... (Score:3, Funny)

    by mhayenga ( 684912 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:07AM (#10863525)
    I ASKED for FREAKING LAZERS damnit... Whats a guy supposed to do around here?

  • really?? (Score:2, Funny)

    by joper90 ( 669321 ) *
    When she saw the artificial fin for the first time, she ran away - did they graft legs onto her first?

  • Mystery "disease"? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rdc_uk ( 792215 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:08AM (#10863530)
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/3 754310.stm [bbc.co.uk]

    Hmmm?
    • While I agree with your point regarding wild dolphins, from the article:

      Fuji was stricken by a mysterious disease causing necrosis - the death of cells - in 2002. To save her life, veterinarians had to amputate three-quarters of her tail with an electronic surgical knife.

      So it sounds like it was done intentionally while in captivity.

  • Feel goodism (Score:2, Insightful)

    by MyLongNickName ( 822545 )
    This is less applicable being in a hman controlled environement. But I have to wonder if our attempts to "help" animals actually results in long-term harm. Like it or not, the weak are supposed to die out. Perhaps we should do less to help animals.

    I will also temper my argument by saying that people need to stop intruding so much on animals' natural habitats so that they can have a healthy population that can rebound from the occasional disease or natural disaster.

    • Re:Feel goodism (Score:4, Interesting)

      by KrancHammer ( 416371 ) <GunseMattNO@SPAMhotmail.com> on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:16AM (#10863580)
      Well, its not as if they went out and found a physically challenged wild dolphin, and laughing at Darwin, gave it an artificial fin. This was a captive dolphin that contracted a disease and lost some finnage. That's hardly a natural situation, and I don't think the long-term genetic health of the species will be affected.

      • That's hardly a natural situation, and I don't think the long-term genetic health of the species will be affected.

        Right, because humans exist outside of nature. While the fate of one dolphin is negligible in terms of evolution, humanity is part of nature. I've always found the "not natural" argument to be a fallacy that leads to wrong conclusions.
      • Actually, I would argue that susceptability to a disease IS an element, if those susceptible to disease are kept alive and are mating, their offspring may have the same susceptability, requiring further aid, etc, while animals with stronger immune systems and their offspring live on without need of care.

        I just feel slightly uncomfortable talking about living things like that, I guess, because when people talk about humans in those terms they begin to sound like evil eugenics fans. In terms of our overall

    • Re:Feel goodism (Score:5, Insightful)

      by brian0918 ( 638904 ) <brian0918@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:27AM (#10863652)
      " Like it or not, the weak are supposed to die out."

      Uhh... says who? I think you're taking that "survival of the fittest" a little too literally. There is no direction to evolution. In the long run it might be the case that the fittest survive most often, but this isn't necessarily the case on a per-individual scale.

      In any case, intelligent life has changed all this. Does this mean it's bad for evolution? No. It just means the "survival of the fittest" phrase needs some changing.

      • Re:Feel goodism (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Thank god *someone* understands Darwinism. "Survival of the Fittest" is a damn phrase to mean a macro-genetic concept, not a catchphrase to justify letting things just die. Like the parent said, "intelligent life has changed all this." We use our brains and tools *instead* of evolving new biological constructs. Does that mean we're not evolving? No. We're just evolving along a different mode now, and just happen to be carrying other species along, for better or worse. Weak and strong are abstract concepts,

      • Re:Feel goodism (Score:4, Insightful)

        by forkazoo ( 138186 ) <<wrosecrans> <at> <gmail.com>> on Friday November 19, 2004 @11:50AM (#10864458) Homepage
        Just remember that "the fittest" is defined as whoever survives in their environment. So, this particular dolphin may have a cuteness adaptation that makes humans want to help her. While that wouldn't be a benefit in a humanless ocean, she doesn't live in a humanless ocean. It doesn't make any sense trying to decide who is the fittest beforehand. That is trying to put a human value judgement on a natural process. You do what you do. They do what they do. No need to worry about evolution. It'll keep on going without us. It's like that.

        • Re:Feel goodism (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Joe Tie. ( 567096 )
          Thank you - well said! The same misinterpretation of the meaning of natural selection always seems to come up in these kinds of discussions. The perfect example I can think of are dogs. Many of their original behavoirs and appearences would have been detrimental to them while living with humans, and in their new environment these have been selected against. Being smaller, less aggresive on average, or more able to communicate with humans might not help, or even activly hurt them in the wild - but the breeds
    • It's a decent enough question, but I seriously doubt one artificial dolphin flipper has any effect at all on evolution. "Help" is a relative term of course and depends on your value system.

      For example, the US Park Service policy of putting out all forrest fires over the last many decades has resulted in a buildup of fuel for much more massive and devastating forrest fires. In "helping" forrests we've really hurt them.

    • Re:Feel goodism (Score:4, Insightful)

      by cavac ( 640390 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @12:22PM (#10864800) Homepage
      Like it or not, the weak are supposed to die out.

      Well known but untrue. Although it's commonly refered as the "survival of the fittest" - which many people misunderstand as "survival of the strongest" - what modern science means is the "survival of the most adaptive". That is, species that can adapt fastest with the least amount of hazzle to changing environments and new illnesses have the biggest chances of survival.

      If that means getting some two-legged ape-decendants - who still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea - to make you a rubber fin thats perfectly fine for us dolphins...

    • Re:Feel goodism (Score:3, Informative)

      by MagicDude ( 727944 )
      the weak are supposed to die out

      So I take it that you've never used antibiotics to fight an infection. You can't use "survival of the fittest" as a law of nature. The quote was actually made by an economist describing the buisness climate of the early 1900's, not by Darwin describing his theory of evolution. The two just have superficial similarities which is why people equate the two together. Remember, "fit" is a relative term compared to the environment at the time.

    • Re:Feel goodism (Score:4, Funny)

      by roystgnr ( 4015 ) <roy&stogners,org> on Friday November 19, 2004 @12:59PM (#10865270) Homepage
      Like it or not, the weak are supposed to die out.

      I'm feel guilty for wearing glasses now, but I'm not sure what to do next. Should I proactively slit my wrists, or just stop wearing lenses while driving and let nature take its course?
    • This is less applicable being in a hman controlled environement

      Bzzzt. Thank you for playing. Nature operates just the same regardless if the clever monkeys think they are running things or not.

      I have to wonder if our attempts to "help" animals actually results in long-term harm. Like it or not, the weak are supposed to die out.

      As others have commented, the survival of the fittest is a long term propasition. It should probably be reworded as the survival of the fittest genetic information. Short ter

    • Like it or not, the weak are supposed to die out. Perhaps we should do less to help animals.

      Everything dies out so I don't get your argument.

      I will also temper my argument by saying that people need to stop intruding so much on animals' natural habitats so that they can have a healthy population that can rebound from the occasional disease or natural disaster.

      Interesting thought. Does this mean the next time you get an infection you shouldn't be provided with antibiotics? Or is it just the animals

  • Uplift (Score:3, Funny)

    by amstrad ( 60839 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:14AM (#10863564)
    This is just the first step in uplifting the dolphins [amazon.com].

    Next step: decyphering trinary [geocities.com].
    • ObPedanticSciFiFact: In the Uplift books, Trinary was an invented language so that uplifted Fins and humans could talk to each other without mechanical translators. Un-uplifted dolphins used Primal Delphin.

  • learning (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Outsider_99 ( 761534 )
    Does anyone know how the dolphin gets used to using the new fin? If people go through training to use a fake leg, how do dolphins do it?
    • Push 'em in at the deep end. They'll either sink or swim.

    • Re:learning (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Merkuri22 ( 708225 )
      Remember that an artificial fin is a lot simpler than an artifical leg. When an amputee had a leg, he had an ankle and a knee. Dolphins cannot move their tailfins the way we move our legs. Think of it more like an ear, it's functional but it doesn't move. The part that moves is in her tail, and that part wasn't amputated. The fin only provided extra push (thus why she can still swim with the amputated fin, just slower and with more exertion). I imagine that once she got used to having it on it was ver
    • She still has all the bits that make up a dolphins tale. Just less surface area. A human with a no leg can't walk. She could swim just that she tired quickly (because less surface area means less power per ehm wiggle?)

      So she would have to get used to having something attached to her but she is a trained animal with reasonably intelligence. Even dogs manage to get used to being attached to wheels instead of legs and you can't get much dumber then dogs. (oh and dog lovers bite me. Only a braindead creature c

  • More Photos from the Aquarium Pages (Score:5, Informative)

    by Tuqui ( 96668 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:18AM (#10863587) Homepage
    There are more photos in the page of the Aquarium (in Japanese) Chura Umi Aquarium [kaiyouhaku.com]

  • First artificial tail fin, not dolphin appendage (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dbretton ( 242493 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:21AM (#10863599) Homepage

    Dolphins have been given artificial flippers on several occasions before this.

  • Obligatory HHGTTU quote mangling (Score:3, Funny)

    by hashwolf ( 520572 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:21AM (#10863605)
    So long, and thanks for all the fins.

  • Yeah. that's great but... (Score:5, Funny)

    by rqqrtnb ( 753156 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @10:30AM (#10863677)
    now she has to be balanced and rotated every 10,000 miles.
  • The real question is: if thet fit *ME* with one of those fins, will *I* be able to leap 20 feet out of the water?

    Now that would be cool.

  • First came sharks with frikkin' lasers attached to their heads and now bionic finned dolphins... when did we decide to go Inspector Gadget on our sea creatures?
  • Isn't that the fluke rather than the fin
    they're talking about?
  • "Does this fin make me look fat?"

  • fin enlargement - check
    smile tuck - check
    exfoliation - check
    lose 20 lbs - check
    blowhole piercing - check
    dump husband - check
  • Those suckaz flip over for no good reason.

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