19.07.2025 – Defying gravity
July 26, 2025
Meet Dalene
July 28, 2025
Today was Grampus day. Grampus is the Portuguese name for the Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus), a species we can appreciate in summer around Madeira. The special thing of the Risso’s dolphin is the coloration, as they get whiter with the age. This white coloration is not due to the loss of pigmentation, instead it comes due to numerous scars they get through their life time. Having more scares seems to be attracted, as whiter animals have a higher reproduction success. Who knows why.
Apart from this species we had some other animals too. We saw some Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) and Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus).
By Horst Schulte
Sightings of the day
Ribeira Brava
09:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Risso’s dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales
13:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Risso’s dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins
Stenella
09:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Risso’s dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales
13:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Risso’s dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins
16:30 Risso’s dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins
