Sperm Whales Adopt Deformed Dolphin
by Chelsea Wald
Sperm whales are fierce squid hunters, but they also have a softer side. In a serendipitous sighting in the North Atlantic, researchers have discovered a group of the cetaceans that seem to have taken in an adult bottlenose dolphin with a spinal malformation, at least temporarily. It may be that both species simply liked the social contact. Creatures form “friendly” connections with members of other species throughout the animal kingdom. These often short-lived relationships can offer increased protection from predators and more effective foraging.
behavioral ecologists Alexander Wilson and Jens Krause of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin did not expect to find a mixed-species group when they set out to observe sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) some 15 to 20 kilometers off the island of Pico in the Azores in 2011. But when they got there, they found not only a group that included several whale calves, but also an adult male bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus). Over the next 8 days, they observed the dolphin six more times while it nuzzled and rubbed members of the group...
(read more: Science NOW)
(photos: Alexander D. M. Wilson/Aquatic Mammals)
fauna: Whales
Watched a PBS documentary on the ocean giants: whales and dolphins. Talked about the elusive bowhead whales and how they’re thought to live hundreds of years. A bowhead was killed by an Alaskan native back in 2001 (I think) and he found a harpoon point from the turn of the century stuck in its…
nrdc: Help save Alaska’s beluga whales from the Pebble Mine
The proposed Pebble Mine threatens two of Alaska’s beluga whale populations, including the last 340 belugas of Cook Inlet. You can help save them. Send a message to mining giant Anglo American Corporation urging them to leave Bristol Bay and its beluga whales alone.
Source: secure.nrdconline.org
