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Writer's pictureDolphin Team

Dolphin of Ponta 'Cheeky'

Updated: Oct 3, 2020

Todays #finfriday spot goes to local #dolphinofponta Cheeky (B.19 bd49m) who was first officially identified in the April of 2003! At that stage he was a teenage boy that was estimated to be around 10 years old - so today he is around 27! That means he was a little calf when our founders first started visiting the dolphins in 1994!



Cheeky has a super cool dorsal fin and as you can see there has not been too much change since he first made it onto the catalogue - but that’s not all!



Fin 2009 Fin 2017


He, like dolfriend Silva has a very unique and distinctive scar running down from the corner of his mouth - on both sides.

Above: Silva

Left: Cheeky



At his time of naming he had a stalked barnacle aka Xenobalanus Globicipitis growing on his bottom jaw. We are all pretty much familiar with the barnacles that are often seen on whales, these however are of the softer variety which is a parasitic organism that only attaches to the host for transportation purposes.


Left: 04/2003 stalked barnacle on rostrum Image: 11/2003 note the shark bite


 

Angie's Dolphin Diary Memoirs 30 April 2004

The second launch of the day found us locating the same pod that was now 2 distinct groups. The nursery pod was estimated at ±30 individuals with the bachelor pod of 22.

Amongst the males, Cheeky and Tinka could be seen.


The swim started out very interactive with dolphins socialising below and around us. They then proceeded to start slowly moving offshore, 7 fell back and started posturing, and then some burst pulse sounds, whistling, a jaw clap and a scuffle down below. Then out of the blue came 2 dolphins at high speed passing very close. I then called the swim off as the dolphins had made it clear that we had overstayed our welcome. It was then noted that the group moved off in a chase inshore.


Video: Listen to dolphins communicate & watch Cheeky chase Gaza & get a tail slap.

 

To find out how you can go about adopting one of our special finned friends please visit the site of the Society of Dolphin Conservation in Germany.


Don’t forget to checkout our partners at the World Cetacean Alliance to find out more about our vision of A World where cetaceans are only found in the wild, are respected and fully protected!


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