08.10.2021 – A strong, interspecific friendship

Sometimes I am asked whether different species of marine mammals are teaming up. This actually happens. A fairly common combination of two different species are Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and Short-finned Pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus). Although they have different food intake preferences and therefore do not hunt together, they often stay together in one area. This was the case today, on our morning tour with the Ribeira Brava. But today we were able to observe intensive socialization and close, very close interaction between the animals. They even swam belly to belly in short sequences. They touched their flippers. It was almost like dancing around each other. What a strong, interspecific friendship! I have never experienced such a special interaction between these two species in my 17 years as a whale watching guide. It was wonderful!

And that wasn’t all that was given to us that morning. There were as well amazing observations of five sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). Both Pilot whales and Sperm whales come together in a matriarchy. Such a social structure always means a very close bond between the group members. One question that crossed my mind was whether the long gestation period during pregnancy, 16 months, had an impact on the intensive, close contact between mother and calf and, as a result, on the intensive relationships between the animals in the group.

Our first group consisted of three animals, but in total we saw five sperm whales. One of the animals first turned to the side and stretched his flipper out of the water. His pectoral fin was shaped like a large, wide paddle. Then he turned on his back, and we could see the narrow lower jaw with the white border.

At the afternoon it was also exciting and wonderful on the Ribeira Brava. The motto of the entire tour was “Sperm whales”. In the first situation we observe three Sperm whales, which looked like pearls on a chain and were resting in the sea. In the second observation situation, five Sperm whales rested together in the blue. To top it off, four of these whales dived gracefully, gently, carefully, in a water ballet style. Very, very nice!

Our petitions to protect marine mammals can be found here: https://www.lobosonda.com/whale-watching/marine-protection/

By Fatima Kutzschbach

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Pilot whales, Bottlenose dolphins, Sperm whales

14:30 Sperm whales

Stenella

10:00 Pilot whales, Bottlenose dolphins, Sperm whales

15:00 Sperm whales