NEWS

Nova Atlantis Foundation

1 hour ago

The last full July moon created a blackfish baby-boom, but we are still lacking encounters with Risso’s nurseries and 2025 newborns.. (although some have been seen by several local whale watching companies).. ... Bekijk meerZie minder

Nova Atlantis Foundation

3 weeks ago

Last week we witnessed the kidnapping of a young female Risso’s dolphin by a subset of a large group of Atlantic (offshore) bottlenose dolphins.
While we were observing a group of around 8 juveniles mixed with sub-adult Risso’s dolphins, a field with ‘big blows” entered the area. About 12 large Tursiops approached the Risso’s and started to chase them. After 15 minutes they successfully separated one female, and started a multiple mating event. But first she was beaten, bitten and exhausted by the male bottlenose dolphins. There was blood in the water and the female tried to escape but was blocked by the males.
All in all, the Tursiops males assaulted the Risso’s female for more than an hour. The rest of the bottlenose dolphins’ group stayed at some distance, but as soon as they started travelling towards the south-west the bullies left the Risso’s dolphin, one by one. We followed the completely exhausted animal for 45 minutes at a respectful distance. Slowly, she was recovering and coming back to life. We left her alone and were a bit surprised that she did not merge with her former mates, who apparently had ‘left the building’.
Bottlenose dolphins are renowned for their aggressive consortships. Possible hybrids between Tursiops and Grampus have been observed in Scotland. Let’s see what comes out of this crazy event.
Here are some pictures, video is next.

#grampus #tursiopstruncatus #interspecific #mixedspecies #mating #hybrid #socialbehaviour #aggressive ... Bekijk meerZie minder