Hey hey it's #finfriday and Noodle is the man of the moment today! He is the son of Fi and our first photo of him goes back to the April of 2006 when he was first photographed with mum! By 2007, little Noodle had developed a very distinctive dorsal fin making him easy to id! He was seen regularly with mum up until 2010 when at around four years old, left her side to find his place amongst the boys. Noodle is often seen in the company of males Igor and Thunder and has been recorded 130 times in our database.
Angie recalls many, many in-water encounters with this local #dolphinsofponta, however it was the circling jaw clapping event that really stands out. At the crack of dawn in April of 2016, while a little offshore in deeper water, Angie and her guests were enjoying a delightful bout of conscious interaction, circle swimming and sea grass gift giving, with Noodle, Pluto, Thunder and a couple of other boys, when 8 minutes into the encountour, their behaviour changed. All of a sudden they started behaving erratically and started jaw clapping while circling swimmers in the water.
This behaviour is generally associated with grumpy dolphins, however given the quality of encounter that was being had, it seemed off, leaving Angie wonder if there was possibly a predator that came into the area they were trying to warn her about. Check out the very clean and distinctive message in the video below.
The next time Noodle was encountered, he had a big open wound on the side of his body that was undoubtedly caused by an encounter with a johnny aka shark!
Dolphins have a remarkable ability to heal and within two months he was completely healed up. According to Michael Zasloff, a researcher from the Georgetown University, dolphins have some remarkable healing abilities. His research suggests that they may use their diving abilities to cut off the flow of blood to unimportant parts id their bodies to reduce the flow of blood to the injury while it clots! From studying dolphin blubber, researches have also established that they have their own antimicrobial compounds that they release when injuries occur! How cool is that!
The Dolphin Team is looking forward to connecting with Noodle after the 5 months of state of Emergancy aka lockdown in Mozambique due to CV19!
Video: Noodle rubbing his open wound on the sand in Ponta do Ouro
We look forward to reporting back on Mindi once we are permitted to go to sea again.
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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!
