Search Results

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. thank you for learning about our local dolfriends - please share our blog PLEASE DONATE TO OUR FUNDRAISER TO HELP DURING CV19 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!

#finfriday this week introduces local #dolphinsofponta Mindi who first made it onto the catalogue in the January of 2007! Mindi was named after a young lady that worked on our project during that time - the now Dr Melinda Rekdahl, a marine mammal acoustic expert. As you can see Mindi has a very recognisable dorsal fin - but, don’t get her confused with male Gaza who’s fin is very similar. The distinctive notch in her fin was caused more than likely from fishing line by the looks of things. One, calm but cold August Moring in 2012, Mindi was observed giving birth in Ponta Bay. Angie Gullan, who photographed what is thought to be the first wild dolphin birth was initially unclear of what was going on. The visibility was poor and only after running through the options; a remora (suckerfish) and large penis - did she eventually realise that she was indeed witnessing a calving event. After a couple of quick pictures, Angie called the encountour off in order for Mindi to calve in peace. She was seen a couple of days later with newbie in tow so she calved successfully! Mindi has been entered 225 times onto our data base and has had 6 calves according to our records. Sadly not all have survived and this we can surmise from a very short calving interval in 2011 and 2012. Her most recent calf was born in the September of 2019. She was last encountered on the 10th March 2020, just prior to Mozambique going into a 4 month state of emergency due to Covid-19. She was in the company of mature females and males who were seemingly in pursuit of her (listen to the males popping in the video). Sadly there was no calf with her and at only 6 months old, should have been close to her side. Mindi being pursued males. We look forward to reporting back on Mindi once we are permitted to go to sea again. thank you for learning about our local dolfriends - please share our blog PLEASE DONATE TO OUR FUNDRAISER TO HELP DURING CV19 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!

Local #dolphinsofponta Lolly (A.04 bd05t) is the profile of our #finfriday today! She made it into the catalogue in 2003 and has been regularly sighted throughout the years. She too is a great mum and like many in the area, has the scars to prove it. Not only does Lolly have a great identifiable fin, but she also sports a damaged pectoral and a white spot, just like that of Beever. All of these make her easy to remember when in the field! Lolly has, over the past two decades become habituated to having humans in her space and we have had encounters with her ranging from social sexual bouts with the adult males, to time spent in the company of pregnant females and nursery pods. Lolly has always been tolerant of our Encountours and has directly approached with her newborns in tow and allowed for some intimate viewing of nursing (see video left) and childrearing. In 2013 while pregnant, Angie observed Lolly positioned vertically in the water just below the surface, she was open and closing her beak and looked to be interested in something above. There was a light drizzle and the sea surface was silky smooth - was she looking at the raindrops, perhaps her reflection, or was there a fish she was after….Check out the video. Current data suggests that Lolly has been encountered 168 times with most observations taking place in the coastal shallows of Ponta do Ouro and Malongane bays. Since 2006, Lolly has calved 5 times with her most recent born in the August of 2019. By the time we get back to sea the latest addition to the Lolly family line will be one years old! We hope that this little #dolphinsofponta has kept safe and sound in our absence. Lolly introducing her newborn! thank you for learning about our local dolfriends - please share our blog PLEASE DONATE TO OUR FUNDRAISER TO HELP DURING CV19 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!

Lady Kit is the daughter of Unique, one of the original #dolphinsofponta. She has a pretty cool dorsal fin together with a number of scars and can be easily recognised amongst our dolfriends! She made it onto the dolphin care catalogue in the April of 2006 as a juvenile, still at moms side. We estimate her to be around 18 years old now and current data indicates she has been encountered 264 times in the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve. In 2008, when Kit was six years old, she had a run in with some fishing line. As you can see from the images, the scarring caused from this entanglement could still be seen 3 years later. Five years later - she appeared with some deep unidentified lacerations which were healed up within a month! Over the years we have had some memorable encounters with Kit. In 2013, Kit was observed in the the coastal shallows playing soccer with a puffer fish - not the greatest video but look how skilful she is at passing the terrified puffer which looks like up ball. Did you know that pufferfish have a toxin that is stored in it’s liver that is called tetrodotoxin - it is said that dolphins can get high from playing with the puffer - however there are currently no studies to back this up! When Kit was a child and through her young adult years, she was encountered regularly in the three southern most bays of Mozambique, mostly in the company of nursery pods were she seemingly looked to be tasked with babysitting. In 2013 and again in 2016 Kit was seen heavy bellied and was with child, however to this day she has not yet been confirmed with calf. Towards the end of 2016 she was observed slim and trim, sporting some rake marks - more than likely caused from males during courtship. In 2017 however sightings of Kit just stopped leaving us wondering if she has passed over or simply moved to quieter bays, like some of our other dolfriends. Time will tell - once we are permitted to work again we will certainly be keeping eyes open for this beautiful soul! Check out how Kit breaks from the boys (who can be heard popping) to come and say hello with a close bout of circle swimming and conscious interaction. please share our blog PLEASE DONATE TO OUR FUNDRAISER TO HELP DURING CV19 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!

DERC together with our co-authors are please to announce the publication of our article Moving towards a sustainable cetacean-based tourism industry – A case study from Mozambique. Diana Rocha, Benjamin Drakeford, Sarah A. Marley, Jonathan Potts, Michelle Hale, Angie Gullan. ABSTRACT Cetacean-Based Tourism (CBT) is often confused with sustainable tourism. However, not every CBT operator has an environmental education component attached to its programme. In reality, CBT has the potential to negatively impact the animals it is targeting; thus management is required to mitigate any harmful effects from tourism activities. This paper analyses the attitudes and perceptions of the marine operators and tourists that partake in dolphin-swim activities in the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (PPMR) in Mozambique. Hand out questionnaire surveys with closed and Likert scale type questions revealed that the tours are an effective means to promote pro-environmental behaviour and consequently increase compliance with the code of conduct. Non the less, in the PPMR, both tourists and operators presented only basic knowledge of the regulations of the reserve and of the dolphin, whale and whale shark code of conduct, indicating that there is a need for improvement. We provide recommendations for improving local management, which are also applicable at the national and international level. Overall, this paper provides knowledge and guidance for moving towards a sustainable based CBT industry in the PPMR. The article can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X19305767 please share Image: Pregnant Bottlenose dolphin surfing waves in Mozambique. PLEASE DONATE TO OUR FUNDRAISER TO HELP DURING CV19 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!

Mamma Dolfriend Jabu (B.24b bdm) takes the spotlight this #finfriday! This local #dolphinsofponta is a transient bottlenose dolphin, meaning that she is seen only every now and then. Since making it onto the DolphinCare database in 2005, Jabu has been recorded 88 times unlike Bo, a known resident who has been encountered 618 times over the same 15 year period. As you can see Jabu’s dorsal fin is very recognisable and easy to pick out in a sea of fins - although it does bear a similar resemblance to adult male Gaza - another transient! Jabu received her name after one of Mozambiques first ever lifeguards - you guessed it, his name was Jabu! At first we thought she was a he, but alas in 2007 that all changed when Jabu was observed with a calf! Jabu is a mature female estimated to be over 30 years old given her fused freckles and most time she is encountered, she has a child in tow. When in the area she is often seen in the company of residents Bo, Rocha, Gilly and Gulliver! Just before CV19 we encountered Jabu in the company of her daughter who now has a damaged tail and a little top notch on her dorsal making it great to identify her! We shall call her Jelly from now! The dyad was seen in the company of new mom Rykie. Watch the video below to see how Jabu approaches the camera seemingly checking in on softly, before Rykie and her babe approach for a bout of conscious interaction with Jelly who does not have an issue getting a circle swim going with dolphin guide Sabrina! please share our blog PLEASE DONATE TO OUR FUNDRAISER TO HELP DURING CV19 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! Other ways to help:

Meet local #dolphinsofponta Igor B.03e bdm this #finfriday! This feisty young male made it onto the #dolphincare catalogue in the October in 2011 and as been recorded in the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve since then. We estimate Igor to be around 13 years old and his fin has remained relatively unchanged since the beginning. Our first in-water records of Igor date back to May 2012 were he can be seen as a young sub adult already exhibiting boy brawl scars with rake marks new and old. His ventral speckling had stated and given the image of him in the company of Noodle in 2011 we estimate he has already been away from mums side for about two/three years. Over the years he has been seen in the company of males Avalon, Razor, Thunder and Noodle and is one of our circle swimmer ring leaders. He is sociable and when in the right mood will engage very closely without touching! In 2017 Igor was recorded with some deep rake marks on his dorsal fin and looked like he had a back eye. Nowadays Igor has a tattered tail that can also be used to identify him. Male on male social sexual behaviour is a common sighting in the area. Males can often be seen in small groups with an older male overseeing what looks to be social behaviour that includes mounting, shoving and chasing with penises erect as can be seen in the video from 2015 where Igor can be seen dominating younger male Pluto. Male bottlenose dolphins form bachelor groups with their relatives! Dr Diaz-Aguirre and her team studied the population at Coffin Bay in Australia and discovered the dolphins clearly favoured relationships based on blood relations, similar to humans who socialise more with their own relatives, such as brothers or cousins! Just before lockdown Igor was recorded in the same male on male behaviour, this time with young boys Freddy, Shiva and Gambit. PLEASE DONATE TO OUR FUNDRAISER TO HELP DURING CV19 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!

This week we explore the life of local #dolphinsofponta Humphrey who is an Indo-pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa plumbea). This particular species of coastal dolphin tends to prefer the shallows and are vulnerable to human activities which include increased vessel traffic and coastal developments. Humpback dolphins are distinguishable from their cousins by being lighter grey in colouration, have a longer more elongated rostrum and you guessed it - a hump. Unlike other places in Africa where these dolphins occur in groups, in the southern most reaches of Mozambique humpback dolphins are normally seen in their ones and two’s and the company of bottlenose dolphins! Humphrey made it onto the data base in the September of 2003. By 2006 she had graced us with whom we believe was her first calf, a little boy who goes by the name Herme who is now part of PhD candidate Sasha Dines work in decoding humpback dolphin vocalisations - a collaboration with @SeaSearch that DERC is very excited about. In 2014 Humphrey was photographed with another calf who stayed close to her side with brother Herme seen in their company on a number of occasions (video below) - a wonderful example of the complex social structure that exists within their species. By the October of 2018 Humphrey was photographed heavily pregnant, however the following month, through December was spotted with no calf. She has been conspicuous in her absence since then and so far we have not had her show up on our visual data! We estimate Humphrey to be around 24 years old and hope the next time we see her she is with child. Sometimes the water gets very, very green..... Did you know that 'beaching' behaviour for foraging in this species has been observed in Mozambique! Back in 1994 Vic Peddemors and Grant Thompson published a report on this unique behaviour seen at Ilha Margaruque in the Bazaruto Archipelago. PLEASE DONATE TO OUR FUNDRAISER TO HELP DURING CV19 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!

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. PLEASE DONATE TO OUR FUNDRAISER TO HELP DURING CV19 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!

Visiting Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve and her surrounds today - you will find some restaurants and shops open, however the heart and soul of Ponta - the diving, the dolphining, the snorkelling, the surfing and kiting - and even the Maputo Special Reserving are all prohibited under the Level-3 State of Emergency SOE until June 30. Life for some has been put on hold as most lodges and activity centers, both on land and sea between Ponta do Ouro and Santa Maria remain closed. The conservation area’s of the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve, the Maputo Elephant Reserve and the Inhaca Biology area is roughly 2000km2. This unique bio-diversity hot spot which encompasses both land and sea has over the past 25 years become the jewel of Southern Mozambique famous for world class dolphin encounters, scuba diving and fishing. Times are however uncertain now as operators, local communities and Reserve Wardens prepare for months of no tourism. Image L: Monkey trap Image R: Vervet monkey entangled in rope Image L: Samango monkey eating paw paw Image R: Vervet monkey and child with freshly picked guavadillas This closure will see an impact on terrestrial animals with monkeys, tortoises, birds and domestics being the target of a hungry population. With these issues prevalent in pre-CV19; during and post will only see this problem escalate. Although local administrations and government departments have been asked to join forces and feed the community - collaborations have been blocked with sustenance fishing no longer permitted off our own boats. Image L: African green pigeon Image R: Speckled Mousebirds Image L: Bronze Mannikin Image R: Purple crested lourie in flight Foreign and local business communities have however taken it upon themselves to help - not only their own crews but the struggling populations within the area’s. Over Mtn 800 000 / R220K has been raised in donations from the private sector with funds pouring in from across the globe. Hundreds upon hundreds of food parcels have been distributed to those in need with thanks to the generous hearts of home and business owners, event organisers and visitors past and future. If there is one thing that is certain - people care and it is this care that will see conservation area’s survive. Image L: Food parcel distribution Malongane - image credit unknown Image R: Business owners Judy, Natalie and Meghan distributing in Ponta do Ouro. Image credit unknown You can check out and link into one of the fund raisers below to help the Jewel of Southern Mozambique sustain herself through CV19. Click on the image or link below. 1: www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/ project/ponta-do-ouro 2: www.gogetfunding.com/6637925/ 3: www.facebook.com/FeedMalongane - Thank you for Caring -

Switching to some girl power this #finfriday with local lady Freya (C.04 bd08t) in the spot light today! Freya first made it onto the DolphinCare catalogue in the July of 2006! Two years later in February 2008 she was photographed with a calf. Over the years #dolphinsofponta Freya has been regularly encountered in the reserve and while under watchful eye has reared three children in our coastal shallows. In 2013, Freya was recorded with a calf once again, this time we could confirm a little boy - that went on the earn the name of Freddy! In 2017, Freya was filmed with a series of interesting lesions - some of which look like they could possibly be caused from an encounter with a predator! Towards the end of 2017 and through-out the whole of 2018 Freya was seen with a swelling belly - however it was only in the November of 2019 that she calved once more - suggesting that she lost an offspring in between. As you can see her dorsal fin has remained pretty unchanged since first sighting. We can’t wait to get back to sea after CV19 to check in on her and her babe who is now going on 6 months old! Watch Freya having a bout of conscious interaction with @AngieGullan while pregnant - here she was observed in the company of pregnant females. PLEASE DONATE TO OUR FUNDRAISER TO HELP DURING CV19 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!

Spotlight on local #dolphinsofponta Elvis (C.32 bdt) this #finfriday who made in onto the catalogue in 2010. Elvis received his name because of his circle swimming which was and still is close and often eye to eye! For many years Elvis was seen in the company of Theo and Fye who are of same age and sex. The young males, when growing up enjoyed human visits and would break pod formation to come and inspect us two leggards. As the years passed, these boys were regularly encountered in the bay - however things changed for them in 2014 when Fye just disappeared; so far never to be seen again. It was in the June of that year that the three boys were last recorded in-water together. They disappeared off the radar so to speak until photo evidence arose in the December of 2014 showing Elvis with a set of rake marks and a new mid notch. Elvis had had a run in with a large predator, possibly offshore while visiting whales during the migration. Elvis is still around and still has a very engaging personality, sometimes getting a little too close for comfort. - When the pressure is up or the pod has something more important to do - he will be the first to let you know. Some may remember his open jaws, mock charges and jaw claps! Check out the video below of Elvis and the boys chasing Diana after a swimmer broke the code of conduct and dived down…. In 2015, Elvis had another major fin makeover which makes him super easy to identity today in the Ponta do Ouro Partial Martine Reserve. He is still bf’s with Theo and is also seen regularly with Snap (another open jaw-er) and humpback dolphin 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!