A Fungi To Be With

For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, the story of a whale found dead in Washington state with a relatively large amount of human trash in its stomach (1-2% of the total contents of its stomach and no indication that it contributed to the animal's death) has been flying around the world in the past few days.

Perhaps it will prove to be one of those events that, while meaningless in themselves, may prove to heighten environmental awareness and prompt a change in attitudes and actions; but it probably won't.  What it has done, though, is make people sad by looking at pictures of a dead whale over lunch, as they throw their plastic sandwich wrapper and crisp packet in the bin.



What fortunate timing then, for me to stumble across a great picture of Fungi the Dophin.  Fungi has lived in Dingle Bay in Co. Kerry in Ireland for almost 30 years, apparently preferring the human company of the tourists who flock to visit him to that of a pod of other dolphins.

The Journal has reproduced a fantastic photo of Fungi, courtesy of Jannine Masset and Rudi Schamhart of the Fungi Forever Facebook page, and in an effort to alleviate the recent bout of whale-derived melancholy, I have reproduced it below.

I'm not sure what it is, but there is something about this photo of this oddball old dolphin that warms my heart: maybe its wider dissemination would have a more long-lasting effect on people's attitudes to littering the seas and oceans.  But probably not.  Anyway, here is Fungi, like the rest of us not getting any younger, with a short YouTube video containing more information about him below.