These animals have no reason to save men from what they correctly postulate as a negative outcome (how?), especially since men represent (minor) competitors for the resources of the ocean, but you hear about these curious events happening occasionally. I remember that it happened to a sailor that went overboard in 1990 in the Caribbean; this fellow was kept afloat FOR 12 HOURS by getting pushed up by a pod of dolphins, until the Navy came back to rescue him.

How is it that a dolphin, a dog, or a gorilla is able to save a human, and more importantly, WHY would a creature do something like this? Dogs, I can understand somewhat - they've lived with us for 14,000 + years (this article claims that it could be 100,000 years!), but a sea creature? They live in a liquid medium, and we walk on land... what experience of us do they have that provokes that protective reaction?