27.04.2022 – Oh la la

After wavy days when we couldn’t go out on the ocean, a calm sea awaited us today. The small subgroups of Short-beaked Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) enjoyed the best spot on the boat. That’s probably the bow wave. They felt very comfortable there, so comfortable that they allowed themselves to be transported to a little love banter. Dolphins are naturally very tactile animals. Often we see a flipper touching the other’s body, or they swim flipper to flipper, as you can clearly see in a photo. But today it got even more intimate. The two love pearls did not seem to bother the viewers. From studies of captive Bottlenose dolphins, it is known that they mate around fifty times a day on average. But the copulation only lasts a few seconds.

The female has the possibility of prenatal care. Her vagina is made up of many niches. If she now has a mating partner who is out of the question as a father of her future calf, she directs his penis into a niche with a subtle body turn. This is of course a major disadvantage for his sperm. A suitable candidate’s penis is granted the direct route. Please look very closely at our title photo and one other photo, because the penis of a dolphin is clearly visible here.

There was something special to see in the sky. A flock of whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus) migrated north. We had this sighting in the morning and in the afternoon.

There were also large numbers of Portuguese man-o-war. A question never asked before was asked. How old a Portuguese man-o-war gets. With some research, it turned out that Portuguese man-o-war are thought to live about a year.

In the afternoon, a lone Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) with a fish in its beak moved along the coast. We also discovered two other groups of Bottlenose Dolphins. A Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) crossed our path, and at the end of the tour we had an encounter with Common dolphins.

By Fatima Kutzschbach

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Common dolphins

14:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Loggerhead turtle

Stenella

10:00 Common dolphins

15:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Loggerhead turtle, Common dolphins