science

Opo (dolphin)

Opo (dolphin) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Opo (dolphin) rather than just read about it. In short: Opo was a bottlenose dolphin who became famous throughout New Zealand during the summers of 1955 to 1956 for playing with the children of the small town of Opononi on the Hokianga harbour. Opo was a wild dolphin that started following fishing boats around Opononi in early 1955.

Key takeaways

Opo (dolphin) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Opo (dolphin) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Opo (dolphin) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Opo was a bottlenose dolphin who became famous throughout New Zealand during the summers of 1955 to 1956 for playing with the children of the small town of Opononi on the Hokianga harbour. Opo was a wild dolphin that started following fishing boats around Opononi in early 1955. She was originally named "Opononi Jack", based on Pelorus Jack, since she was presumed to be male. Unlike the majority of dolphins, she had no qualms about human company, and would perform stunts for locals, play with objects like beach balls and beer bottles, and allow children to swim alongside her and make contact. Māori children were more reluctant to play with Opo, as cultural beliefs said the dolphin was a messenger from Kupe. The dolphin became a local celebrity but news of her soon spread, and visitors from throughout the country would come to watch her. On 8 March 1956 official protection for Opo, requested by locals, was made law, but on 9 March she was found dead in a rock crevice at Koutu Point. There were suggestions that she had become stranded while fishing, or that she had been killed by fishermen fishing with gelignite. Her death was reported nationwide, and she was buried with full Māori honours in a special plot next to the Opononi War Memorial Hall.

Legacy

The song "Opo the Friendly Dolphin" was written by Crombie Murdoch and recorded by Pat McMinn (coincidentally on the same day Opo died) and was highly popular. A second song was written by Julie Collier in 1988. Several documentary films have been made about Opo. Rudall Hayward made a film called The Amazing Dolphin of Opononi, released in 1956 and shown in 26 countries. Opo was the inspiration for the Maurice Shadbolt novel This Summer's Dolphin and a children's storybook titled Opo the Gay Dolphin by Avis Acres was published by Reed Publishing Ltd. Opo also features significantly in the 1988 novel by Noel Virtue: "Then Upon the Evil Season" (Hutchinson). A stone statue of the dolphin playing with a child by Russell Clark was erected in Opononi in 1960. Following vandalism this was replaced by a bronze casting in 2013, with the restored original put on display at the Hokianga Historical Society's Museum at Omapere. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa holds a large number of photographs of Opo taken by Eric Lee-Johnson. In 1991, playwright, screenwriter and theatre critic, John Smythe, produced a novel based on Opo, called The Peace Monster. Smythe's story was further developed as a theatre-play script of the same name and as an ebook, OPO The Peace Monster, in 2016. A Scottish country dance called Opo was published in 1994. It includes a hey/reel for three with the 1s dancing as a unit and changing the lead on the ends of the heys, a move known as a 'dolphin hey'. In 2006, New Zealand musician Don McGlashan wrote the song Miracle Sun about Opo.

See also Moko (dolphin) Pelorus Jack List of individual cetaceans

References

External links The songs Northern Advocate story on the 50th anniversary of Opo's death. Photographs of Opo the Dolphin from the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Opo (dolphin)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Opo (dolphin) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Opo (dolphin) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Opo (dolphin) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Opo (dolphin)

In research: Opo (dolphin) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Opo (dolphin) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Opo (dolphin) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1956 animal deaths, History of the Northland Region, Hokianga, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Opo (dolphin) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Opo (dolphin) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Opo (dolphin) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Opo (dolphin) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Opo (dolphin) in simple terms?

Why does Opo (dolphin) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Opo (dolphin)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Opo (dolphin).