20.08.2025 – Dolphin-y days
August 28, 2025
Today on our morning trip we could observe a special behaviour of our beloved Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis). What we saw was a mating ritual, where many dolphins, most probably males, where chasing one or two dolphins, probably female. Spotted dolphins are not very intimate when it comes to mating. They chase each others and mate in the middle of the group. The purpose of the chasing ritual is most probably a strength and agility test where the females test the possible mating partner.
Apart of this dolphins we also saw two other species. One the one hand the similar Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) and the larger Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). This is a small selection of the biodiversity of dolphins which we can encounter around Madeira.
By Horst Schulte
Sightings of the day
Ribeira Brava
09:00 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin
13:00 No sighting
16:30 No sighting
Stenella
09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Striped dolphin
13:30 No sighting
16:30 No sighting
