Offspring is ensured in the Strait of Gibraltar

by Katharina Heyer

Fotos:firmm

Almost on every tour we meet schools of Bottlenose Dolphins and Pilot Whales, including young ones. Apart from many 2-6 months old Pilot Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins we also spot 2-3 day old Pilot Whales and one time even a very small Bottlenose Dolphin.

Pilot Whale Baby Head of a Pilot Whale Baby Little Bottlenose Dolphin Offspring 

The youngsters are most of the time very curious and get to know our boat by swimming around it and diving under it, always accompanied by their mothers in an appropriate distance.

A really cheeky Pilot Whale chap, only 2-4 days old, is Toni with his mother Juana. He very likely was born in the first days of April and keeps his family very busy. We gave him a name, because surely we will see him often and will be able to watch him growing up during the summer.

We also observed some Bottlenose Dolphins swimming around him and trying to play with him. But that seems a bit suspicious to him, as they are a lot bigger than he is and so he flees again and again to his fellow species and hides between the black, big bodies of the Pilot Whales. Since he is still light-brown, one can see him happily surfacing there, looking around him, if he outran the big dolphins. A get to know, in a careful, but cheerful way.      

Juana and Baby Toni Juana and Toni Mother Juana and Baby Toni 

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