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Dolphins & Porpoises (Miscellaneous; General)

marion

marion

Ungnoing.
Joined
Nov 3, 2001
Messages
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Pink dolphin
calcasieucharters.com/index.cfm/ ... ID/125.htm
Link is dead. Here's the text of the MIA article, salvaged from the Wayback Machine ...

Rare "PINK DOLPHIN" Photos

This extremely rare and beautiful "pink dolphin" was spotted and photographed by Capt. Erik Rue of Calcasieu Charter Service on June 24th, 2007 during a charter fishing trip on Calcasieu Lake south of Lake Charles, LA.

Pink Smile_a.jpg

​
It appears to be an uncanny freak of nature, an albino dolphin, with reddish eyes and glossy pink skin. It is small in comparison to the others it is traveling with and appears to be a youngster traveling with mama. After spotting the beautiful mammal cruising with a pod of four other dolphins, Rue and his guests Randy and Peyton Smith and Greg and Sam Elias of Monroe, LA idled nearby while watching and photographing the unusual sight for more than an hour.

Our expectations are high that we will see this amazing mammal again as it was in an area frequented by the gentle mammals and one confirmed report has it being spotted at least a month earlier in a nearby location. If it does turn up again, it will be a welcome surprise to our guests. ...
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SOURCE: https://web.archive.org/web/2009022...sieucharters.com/index.cfm/MenuItemID/125.htm
 
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Well I guess it's a possibility that albinoism (is that a word?) is present in most if not all species, but if I saw that swimming off the coast of Devon, I'd swear I'd had too much cider!! :lol:
 
Another rare dolphin is washed up.

A dolphin has been found washed up on a beach in Norfolk.

HM Coastguard Gorleston said it believed the creature, found on Great Yarmouth South Beach, was a Risso's dolphin.

A dolphin pod had been observed off Great Yarmouth on Friday, the coastguard said on social media.

Measurements of the dolphin and other details will be passed on to the Natural History Museum, so it can determine how the creature came to die.

According to Whales.org, Risso's dolphins are "an unusual species that has not been well studied, mainly due to their preference for deep, oceanic waters".

Generally seen in groups of between 10 and 50 animals, they are often left scarred by their major prey item of squid. ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-44099233
 
Mass slaughter of dolphins. Time to cull fishermen.

More than a thousand dead dolphins have washed up on French beaches this year, raising fears that the species could be wiped out in the Bay of Biscay.

Scientists say the figure, the highest ever recorded in France, tells only part of the story and four times as many carcasses sink in the ocean without trace.

Almost all have died after becoming caught up in trawler nets designed to catch hake and sea bass in the bay. “These are young, healthy dolphins whose stomachs are full of fish. They were eating when they were trapped by the nets,” Lamya Essemlali, 40, head of Sea Shepherd France, said. The bodies are often mutilated, with fins and other parts cut off by fishermen to extract them without ruining the nets.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...-dolphins-each-day-in-bay-of-biscay-5b86jx789
 
Dolphins at popular spot miss tourists and keep leaving 'gifts' on shore

Depositphotos_137207888_original.jpg


Dolphins who frequent Australia’s Tin Can Bay, a popular tourist spot, have taken to bringing “gifts” ashore, apparently missing the visitors who would normally be lined up to feed them before the coronavirus pandemic.

The pod of humpback dolphins has brought sponges, barnacle-covered bottles and fragments of coral to Queensland’s Barnacles Cafe & Dolphin Feeding in recent weeks, a volunteer told Australia’s 7News.

“Nothing surprises me with dolphins and their behavior anymore,” [said] Barry McGovern, a dolphin expert.

“In all likelihood, they probably don’t miss humans per se," he added. "They probably miss a free meal and the routine."

“They often play with bits of weed and coral and all sorts of things and just leave it on their rostrum,” McGovern said. “They’re used to getting fed now, so they’re used to humans coming in. When it’s not happening, maybe it’s just out of boredom.”

The café’s Facebook page took a far less skeptical view of the activity, writing: “The pod has been bringing us regular gifts, showing us how much they’re missing the public interaction and attention. They are definitely missing you all.”

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brie...lphins-at-popular-spot-miss-tourists-and-keep

maximus otter
 
Though I have not seen them I have been told a pod of bottle nosed dolphins have been seen along the Fylde coast, the wildlife in general seems to be wondering were we are.
 
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RaM said:
Though I have not seen them I have been told a pod of bottle nosed dolphins have been seen along the Fylde coast, the wildlife in general seems to be wounding were we are.
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Wounding is not good.
 
Is that better at least not as painful.:)
 
I keep thinking of that Simpsons episode ...

Like members of a street gang, male dolphins summon their buddies when it comes time to raid and pillage—or, in their case, to capture and defend females in heat.

A new study reveals they do this by learning the “names,” or signature whistles, of their closest allies—sometimes more than a dozen animals—and remembering who consistently cooperated with them in the past. The findings indicate dolphins have a concept of team membership—previously seen only in humans—and may help reveal how they maintain such intricate and tight-knit societies.

“It is a ground-breaking study,” says Luke Rendell, a behavioral ecologist at the University of St. Andrews who was not involved with the research. The work adds evidence to the idea that dolphins evolved large brains to navigate their complex social environments.

Male dolphins typically cooperate as a pair or trio, in what researchers call a “first-order alliance.” These small groups work together to find and corral a fertile female. Males also cooperate in second-order alliances comprised of as many as 14 dolphins; these defend against rival groups attempting to steal the female. Some second-order alliances join together in even larger third-order alliances, providing males in these groups with even better chances of having allies nearby should rivals attack. ...

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...their-friends-form-teams-first-animal-kingdom
 
Dolphins saved!

A team of volunteers in Mayo made a flipping good rescue on Friday, saving 10 dolphins in a live stranding event.

Thirteen dolphins, mainly mothers and calves and a big male had live stranded on Tarmon beach in Blacksod.

Mayo Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) members led the rescue mission, with assistance from other local community members, visitors and gardaí.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40359173.html
 
Female dolphins found to have clitoris-like organs and enjoy same-sex stimulation.

Scientists have discovered that dolphins have clitorises “similar to humans”, which they make use of in creative lesbian sex.

A new study published in the journal Current Biology has found that dolphins, who often have sex to maintain social bonds as well as for reproduction, have clitorises that are evolved for pleasure.

Researchers analysed the genitals of 11 female bottlenose dolphins that had died of natural causes and found that their clitorises had erectile tissue structures, lots of blood vessels, large nerves and nerve endings just under the skin.

These similarities to the human clitoris led scientists to conclude that the dolphins feel pleasure during sex, which would explain why they have so much of it.

Full Article
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/01/11/lesbian-dolphins-clitoris-gay-sex-animals/

Original study:
https://www.cell.com/current-biolog...m/retrieve/pii/S096098222101544X?showall=true
 
We see seals now and then but it's a few years since we saw a dolphin,
It's always a good day when you see a Dolphin.
:omr:
 
Larry Niven created a guy in his universe who travels around worlds selling the products of his family business, which are prosthetics designed for sentient creatures who have never been able to reach their full potential lacking some physical item - in the case of dolphins, they sell hands. He comes across an entity that looks like a pile of dirt but manipulates others through mind-control to do whatever it wants - so clearly not a client. (It's more complicated than that, and a pretty good story.)
 
Dolphins take medicine on porpoise.

We’re not the only creatures who pop a pill or slather on an ointment when we’re ill or itchy.

Chimpanzees swallow rough leaves to rid their intestines of parasites, for example, and some ants eat foods rich in hydrogen peroxide to expel fungal infections. Now, scientists might be adding dolphins to the list. Researchers have discovered that bottlenose dolphins in the Red Sea rub against corals and sponges that have medicinal properties, possibly to ward off pathogens that cause skin diseases.

“This is very valuable work,” says Michael Huffman, a primatologist and expert on animal self-medication at Kyoto University who wasn’t involved with the research. “I’ve long awaited a really solid study of self-medication in a marine animal species.”

Huffman has studied primate self-medication since the 1980s. He also collects information on instances of the phenomenon across the animal kingdom. But he says such behavior has been tough to study in the ocean because of the logistical challenges of observing animals at sea.

Enter Angela Ziltener, a wildlife biologist with the University of Zürich and the conservation nonprofit Dolphin Watch Alliance. Since 2009, Ziltener has scuba dived in Egypt’s Red Sea among a population of 360 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), gaining their trust and observing their behavior up close.

https://www.science.org/content/article/these-dolphins-might-be-self-medicating
 
Dolphins aren't afraid of a little hot sauce

Fishers around the world are desperate for a reliable way to stop dolphins from plundering their catch. Dolphins’ net burgling—known as depredation—costs fishers income, but it also puts dolphins at risk of injury and entanglement. Proposed solutions to finally win the battle of wits, such as using noisemakers or reflective camouflage, have come up short. So researchers in Greece went back to the drawing board in search of the perfect deterrent: something so unpleasant it would ward away dolphins and keep them away. They came up with fishing nets coated with a resin laced with capsaicin, the chemical compound that gives chili peppers their signature heat.

Yet after five months of test fishing with capsaicin-coated nets, the research team co-led by Maria Garagouni, a marine biologist at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, faced a tough realization: their idea didn’t work. The bottlenose dolphins that interacted with their nets were entirely unfazed.

https://www.popsci.com/environment/dolphins-hot-sauce-net/

maximus otter
 

Stranded dolphins may be getting lost because they have animal Alzheimer's disease​


Dolphins may be getting stranded in Scottish waters because they are suffering from animal Alzheimer's disease, a study had suggested.

Scientists examined the brains of three different species of stranded dolphins, and they found them to show classic markers of human Alzheimer's disease.

The brains of 22 odontocetes, which had all been stranded in Scottish coastal waters, were analysed in research by the Universities of Glasgow, St Andrews and Edinburgh and the Moredun Research Institute in the Scottish capital.

The study, which is published in the European Journal of Neuroscience, included five different species - Risso's dolphins, long-finned pilot whales, white-beaked dolphins, harbour porpoises and bottlenose dolphins.

It found four animals from different dolphin species had some of the brain changes associated with human Alzheimer's disease.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...-getting-lost-have-animal-alzheimers-disease/

maximus otter
 
Leaping Dolphins seen off Yorkshire coast

Andrew Cottrell spotted a group of 20 bottlenose dolphins while was walking on the beach at Hunmanby Gap in Filey.

The animals were about 1km away from the shore and were leaping up from the waves.

Andrew called the sight ‘unusual’ and said the animals ‘appeared to be having fun’, as they jumped up to 3 metres (10ft) high.

Though they can be seen off the coast of Yorkshire later in the year, it is highly unusual for them to be spotted in the winter.
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They work with the fishes but do they sleep with the fishes?

A fishing community in southern Brazil has an unusual ally – wild dolphins.

The dolphins help by herding fish towards fishing nets to help improve their own foraging.

In the seaside city of Laguna, scientists have for the first time used drones, underwater sound recordings and other tools to document how local people and dolphins co-ordinate actions and benefit from each other’s labour.

The most successful humans and dolphins are skilled at reading each other’s body language.

The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Accounts of people and dolphins working together to hunt fish go back thousands of years, from the time of the Roman Empire near what is now southern France to 19th century Queensland, Australia.

ADVERTISEMENT

But while historians and storytellers have recounted the human point of view, it has been impossible to confirm how the dolphins have benefited – or if they have been taken advantage of – before sonar and underwater microphones could track them underwater.

The Laguna residents work with wild bottlenose dolphins to catch schools of migratory silver fish called mullet and they have been doing it for more than 150 years. ...

https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/d...ogether-in-fishing-collaboration-1426083.html
 
Scousers Save Dolphins! No, they didn't injure them in the first place.

Two injured dolphins have been rescued after getting lost miles down Liverpool's River Mersey.

The mother and calf were freed after they were spotted stranded near the suburb of Speke - more than 10 miles (16km) from the mouth of the river and not far from the city's airport. A birdwatcher raised the alarm after seeing the aquatic mammals on Oglet Shore on Sunday morning.

A lifeboat crew and medics from British Divers Marine Life Rescue attended. The specialists treated the dolphins - which had been attacked by seabirds - before the tide came back in and they swam to freedom.

RNLI coxswain Howie Owen said the conditions were "challenging" as the "flooding tide meant the dolphins' location on the sandbank would soon be covered by water".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-64809337
 
24 hours after the sad finding of Nicolers body 2 harbor porpoises were seen
heading down the river Wyre at shard bridge, and about a hour later at the
mouth of the river, we like to think they had been up to St Michel's and moved
her to were she was found, it certainly lifted the spirits of those that saw them.
 
Not so little beggars.

The news that orcas are attacking and sinking ships off Europe's Iberian coast has the world captivated by the strange workings of the creatures' culture.

But these aren't the only sleek ocean swimmers that have learned to respond to the presence of humans.

Scientists at the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia suspect that bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.) in Moreton Bay, near Brisbane, are teaching each other to 'beg' boats for fish.

Sometime between 2017 and 2020, marine scientists noticed dolphins approaching recreational fishing boats and feeding on the scraps tossed to them by humans on board.

"Within the dolphins' social network, I found a cluster which would consistently patrol moored boats, waiting for recreational fishers to illegally toss them discarded bait or catches," explains Léonie Huijser, who noticed the peculiar phenomenon while undertaking a thesis at UQ on dolphin social structures.

"Fishing is popular in the bay, and it seems some dolphins have learnt to exploit it."

It's currently illegal to feed dolphins in Moreton Bay, but it's hard to actually police that law when fishing boats are out on the water, far from shore.

https://www.sciencealert.com/its-no...reading-behaviors-too-and-its-a-real-problem?
 
How odd, animal's scrounging food off humans, who would think of that,
the thousands spent on education and training have been well spent.
:omr:
 
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