Gandalf is the first son of local lady Gilly and the sister of Gulliver - he is an uncle too! The first image we have of him on file is dated 08/08/2012 were he is flanked by mom and female M&M. By the time 2014 came, Gandalf was easily recognisable by a unique shaped dorsal fin with a small mid notch, as well as what Angie calls square pecs, a lower jaw lesion AND his first ventral spot! Did you know that dolphins are born with hair on their snouts that fall out when s/he is around a month old! What are left are what are called hair pits!
While growing up mum Gilly and best friends Bo and Freya held company with their boys, Blu and Freddy! These three ended up being best of mates until one day Blu disappeared (he’s the one with the damaged pectoral and rake marks) with Gandalf and female Ritz in the below video from 2012.
Right from his early years, Gandalf like mum Gilly and the rest of their family line is a super sociable being - having grown up with human in his space most of his life. Gandalf is one of the Reserves ‘conscious interactors’, as you can see in the video dated 2018, he can be seen to turn around and come back to engage with onlookers (a classic example of dolphins poohing can be seen right in the beginning). Gandalf is now 8 years old and is often seen hanging with the males, including same aged Freddy, Pluto and Jagger together with older males Chuck and Herme.
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!
