21.09.2026 – Meet the locals

Today’s tours were filled with some expected visitors for this time of the year – or for any season of the year for that matter.! Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorynchus) are two of the most important species of predator that can be found here in Madeira‘s waters. Thanks to the non-invasive method of photo identification, that is using pictures of dorsal fences that are then or into catalogues for a respective region, scientists were able to establish that we have a resident population that is shared with the Canary Islands of both species.

We often see both these species interacting, as we did today here in Madera, the interactions are often peaceful and really involve any kind of aggressive behaviour amongst the animals. The interesting thing is that this doesn’t necessarily apply to the Canary Islands, we interactions often end in aggression. This could mean that, although both species shared the same habitat use to both regions, their relationship to each region may be different which may be the reason for this variance in behaviour. It’s simply never gets boring with cetaceans, even surprises with the locals are always possible.

von Paula Thake

Sichtungen des Tages

Ribeira Brava

09:00 Bottlenose dolphin, Short-finned pilot whale

13:00 Bottlenose dolphin, Short-finned pilot whale

Steno

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Short-finned pilot whale