#dolphin watching

[redrcs]

Hey baby

Dolphins hunting at Hopetoun

On my travels

[its-time-to-travel-now]

Images taken in Paihia and the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, North Island

[flukesandflorida]

A Dolphin Watching Horror I Witnessed...

Nature is always a mix of both beauty and turmoil...

Last month, I witnessed some of nature’s ugliest.

When we go to Placida, Florida, for dolphin field studies, I always love to pull my boat up to the old trestle tracks crossing Gasparilla Sound, climb up onto the pier and watch the dolphins as they swim by underneath.

The dolphins were actively traveling about the bay that afternoon. Some groups of females were mulling around, being pursued by a few males in the area.

Later a pod of several females, including two mothers with newborn calves, came swimming by the trestle pier. 

All of a sudden, P31 “Sharky,” a large male, came up behind the females and calves.

I didn’t think much of this at first. In fact, I had already been up there for hours, and was about to call it quits. I was in the process of walking down the pier, back to my boat, when all of a sudden a huge amount of splashing erupted beside the trestle. I instinctively whipped out my camera, and could hardly believe what I captured next.

Sharky aggressively launched P58 Riptide’s newborn calf out of the water. 

There was more chaos, followed by Sharky again attacking Riptide’s baby, ramming him/her and launching him/her out of the water.

This time, though, Riptide managed to come up underneath Sharky, blocking him from her calf

I could hardly believe what I was capturing. I’d heard of male dolphins acting aggressively and even killing newborn calves...but I never thought I would document it with my own camera.

There was more splashing.

Sharky charged at the baby once again, but Riptide blocked him from reaching her calf.

Riptide took an opportunity to escape. She fled with her baby by her side. P5 “Mangrove,” another adult male, joined Sharky. The two of them swam in the direction Riptide and her calf were headed, but they went out of sight and I never saw if or what anything happened next. 

Riptide and her calf escaped safely. I saw both of them throughout the rest of the week, and thankfully the baby was fine. 

Male dolphins being documented showing aggression toward calves is no new thing.

Take this worse dolphin watching horror story, for example: In 2013, researchers looking for dolphins near Tybee Island, Georgia, witnessed a true miracle. They became the first scientists in history to witness the birth of a Bottlenose Dolphin in the wild - and then, almost immediately after the new baby was born, several males attacked and attempted to drown the newborn. The mother fought against the males for nearly half an hour, sometimes lifting it above the water’s surface on her back to try and protect it. Miraculously, the two managed to escape, and the baby survived the incident.

One notably strange dolphin infanticide event occurred among Killer Whales near Vancouver Island in 2016. Scientists observed as a mother and calf was seen fleeing from a mother-son pair pursuing them. The mother and son caught up to the mother-newborn calf pair, and a violent attack followed. The male swam by the research boat with the calf’s tail in his mouth and the little body dragging behind. The calf’s mother desperately attempted to save her calf, engaging in a bloody battle with the male, but to no avail. The baby was killed.

Some scientists believe male dolphins killing calves may be linked to the fact that after a mother dolphin looses her calf, she becomes fertile rather quickly, providing a mating opportunity for the male.

But WHY, then, was the adult male’s mother aiding in the murder of the newborn Orca?

That’s still a mystery.

Cetaceans are intelligent creatures with complex social structures. There is still so much we don’t know about them - so much yet to be discovered. Some mysteries about their lives we may never understand. Only time will tell, I suppose.

[duhduhduhdadada]

回遊する事なく同じ海域で暮らすイルカは珍しいそうな。

今は出産のシーズンだそうで子イルカも元気に泳いでいましたよ🐬

初めて見たけれどけっこうテンション上がるね！

[cetuselena]

I’m having so much fun making combined action sequences in photoshop!

[seasonparadise-blog]

Have you seen dolphins in Maldives?🐬 🐬They are loving Thulusdhoo!!

Photo credit: @hippiefilms

[cocostravelandjourney]

Exploring the shores of the jersey shore at Atlantic City. Lots to see and do besides gambling. Lucy the elephant, lighthouses, ripleys believe it or not, dolphin watching, food & drinks galore, little boutique and shops, fantasy resorts, shows, the broad walk cruises

[creatures1575]

I finally got to see them in their natural environment. One of the best days of my life and I am so thankful these wild animals graced us with their presence. I have way more footage but the video will be too long to upload so I will put that up on youtube in a little while.