22.12.2023 – Christmas gatherings

Those of you who celebrate Christmas know that this is the time of the year for family reunions and get-togethers. Of course, the festive season isn’t considered by our favourite inhabitants of the Atlantic Ocean but the truth is that toothed whales in general are known to be extremely social and to exist in groups. While these groups, also known as pods, usually consist of members of the same species, often even from the same family, we do have the occasional mixed sighting.

We had one of those mixed sightings on both tours today, where we experienced a gathering of extremely active Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) foraging in the company of a single Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis). The latter are smaller dolphins that tend to occur in summer and its not unusual for the two species to interact, but today’s sighting involved a lot of movement at the surface which left our team wondering whether the animals were foraging or whether the Bottlenose were bullying the spotted dolphin. 

We then moved on to a group of Short-finned pilot whales that were moving eastward  in their usual family formation. Family always comes first for pilot whales so basically it’s Christmas every day for these larger dolphins.

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Stenella 

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

13:30 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales