29.10.2019 – Autumn love

Published by Fatima Kutzschbach on November 2, 2019

After wavy days, it was nice to look for dolphins on a fairly calm sea. And to our delight, we encountered many, many Atlantic Spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) not far from the harbor. Three activities were dominant! Bow wave rides – mating behavior – leaps.

Everywhere we looked, the Atlantic Spotted dolphins were in deep autumn love! Everywhere we saw white bellies flashing. Dolphins love each other belly to belly. Hopefully, this affectionate activity will result in a beautiful calf in next July, as the female’s gestation of this species is a nine months period. There were also many leaps around and over each other. One of many reasons for dolphin jumps can be the imposing behavior. And today it looked as if some were really into “may the best man win” mood. These two activities seemed to be directly related.