29.10.2026 – For the love of interaction

For now, our team can easily claim that Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are the most interactive of all cetaceans. Here in Madeira, we have experienced them interacting with all sorts of different cetacean species. However, the interaction we see most frequently by far is between them and Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus).

It isn’t hard to understand why; both species share the same distribution with resident populations sharing a home range that includes the waters around and in between Madeira and the Canary Islands. This enormous habitat is governed both at the surface and in the deep by both predators, who couldn’t be more different when it comes to their social lives. While Bottlenose dolphins thrive in loosely knit fission fusion communities, pilot whales form stable family groups with females remaining with their birth pods their entire lives.

Interactions between both species take place across their home range but there is an interesting difference between the nature of the interactions. Here in Madeira, we usually encounter nursery groups of Bottlenose dolphins accompanying the pilot whales and these encounters are largely peaceful. In the Canaries, adult Bottlenose accompany the pilots and these interactions often end in aggression.

The reason for this difference? We do not know for sure – maybe their relationship to Madeira is very different to that to the Canaries? We hope that in time we will understand more about these incredible interactions!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales

13:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales

Steno

09:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales

13:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales

16:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales