30.06.2022 – Flipper came to visit!

Today we got a visit from a less sighted species of dolphins – the Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) !
Since we’re almost used to seeing our lovely Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis), Bottlenose Dolphins look like the bigger brothers as they are almost twice as big and a lot chunkier bringing up to 600 kg on the weight.  Bottlenose dolphins are known to use tools such as sponges to forage for food that they could not normally access and can also pass cultural knowledge from generation to generation.

They made it famous with their appearance in the popular TV  show ,Flipper’ aswell as  being the species to be kept in an aquarium or dolphinarium, as they’re easy to train and highly intelligent. This in itself should be reason enough to not keep dolphins in an aquarium or in captivity – so in case you guys ever wondered.. it is definitely better to visit dolphins in their natural habitat 

In the afternoon we got accompanied by our dear friends and summer dolphins – the Atlantic spotted dolphins . Friendly as always, they kept bow-riding the waves of our boat and breaching just next to us. And how pretty they are with their unique pigmentation!

Another beautiful day out there!! 

By Paulina Kalita

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Bottlenose dolphins

14:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins

Stenella

10:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins

15:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins