26.11.2024 – Old Winter Guests

It’s been a while since we’ve seen any loggerhead sea turtles. Loggerheads will spend a large part of their lives circulating in the Atlantic gyres, so whilst not every day, it’s not uncommon to still see them around now in winter. After all, this species is known to take their time with a 150-million-year-old evolutionary history. This means they predate the whales, dolphins, and porpoises by 100 million years. Even this wild evolutionary age is young when compared to that of sharks, some of the oldest vertebrates. Sharks have existed in some form for 450 million years; this makes them older than the dinosaurs, even trees.

By Peter Worth

Sightings of the Day

Stenella

09:30 – Loggerhead Sea Turtle, Sperm Whales

13:30 – Bottlenose Dolphin, Sperm Whales, Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Ribeira Brava

09:30 – Sperm Whales