Our sponsored animals in the summer of 2014

Photos: firmm

Surprisingly often we have seen our animals that are available for adoption. Either from far away or trustfully near the
boat.

Pilot Whales:

Baby Hook came very close to the boat. Most of the time she moves with her family. She enjoys diving underneath the boat.

   

Edu, a large male, we saw very often. He is predominant or so to say the "pilot" of his family.

  

Fernando we saw probably the most of all adoption animals. He is always moving in one of the first groups that come from the Mediterranean Sea into the Strait of Gibraltar. We are of no interest to him and he is often diving down for a long time together with his two companions, both of them big males. His scar, created by a carelessly attached chip is still clearly visible.

   

Franzfin is an easy recognizable male. He can often be found in the family, together with Edu und Ponce.

   

Johnny can be found most of the time together with Mocho, he is swimming speedily and is a lively Pilot Whale.

   

Nina was one of the most popular female Pilot Whales. She is the proud mother of a curious calf and since August we see her often near the boat.

   

Dientes is a large male. He has been milling around close to our boat lately and we spotted him until on our last trip on Monday 03.11 from 13:00 to 15:00.

  

Nuevo is easily recognizable. Since July he has an injury on the right part of his dorsal fin. It doesn’t seem to be a deep wound, so we hope that he can live on without great pain.

   

Ponce is one of the biggest Pilot Whales that we have here in the Strait of Gibraltar. Sierra seems to be his partner. They are nearly inseparable, always swimming together.

   

Sierra is a relatively small female. She can be seen often, also in close proximity to the boat.

  

Zackzack the injured female is accompanied without exception by her calf. The three-year old young Pilot Whale is always swimming at his mother’s side.

   

Mocho is a small male and can be seen very often together with Johnny. His slightly cut dorsal fin is easy to distinguish.

 

Gorro we see quite often. He is a proud male with a big family.

  

Mariano is not so easy to identify. Nevertheless he has been seen from time to time, although with a certain distance from the boat.

 

Vicente with his back injury we have only seen for a couple of times at the beginning of the season, mostly from far away. It seems that he prefers to be away from the boat. We will especially keep an eye on him during the next season.

 

Gonzo we have only seen once at the beginning of the season. We have the suspicion that his back injury he has since the end of last year causes him a lot of trouble and therefore we hardly see him. We will also observe him especially next year.

 

At the end of 2013 we said goodbye to Curro, who has not survived his severe back injury.

This year we say goodbye to the big male Nr.117 He seems to have reached a high age, because he has been the oldest among the Pilot Whales. Already in 1998 he stood out due to his special dorsal fin and he might have had already a proud age 17 years ago. In the last years he also had a white spot on his forehead.

  

Dolphins

Loly with the fungus on her dorsal fin is easily recognizable. She is less shy than before and comes often to the boat, always accompanied by a larger group.

   

Puzzle is very curious and can be found around or also under the boat.

   

Baby Leila of course has grown up, but stays nevertheless close to her mother Melissa, though not all the time. She often hangs out with other young dolphins and comes curiously close to the boat.

   

Cutty we always see in a larger family. She loves doing “spy hops” and “tail flukes” and shows us her fluke, often directly in front of the boat.

   

Salto is a very lively dolphin. Recognizable by jumping high in the air or being curiously under the boat.

   

Orcas

The Matriarch we saw very often accompanied by a baby. Being grandmother she often looks after the young ones, so that the mothers can catch tuna. She is always moving in a group of 5-7 Orcas.

   

Camorro the young male and Camacho’s successor, we have often seen among a big pod of females together with their calves. Near him there usually has been a young Orca, whom he showed how to eat a tuna. This too has to be learnt.

   

Sperm Whales

Cicatriz means jar and is characteristic for this Sperm Whale. He has some scars, but one of them is especially big and round. This one is on his left side. We have seen him a couple of times and he always stayed for quite a while on the surface, without taking much notice of us.

   

Observador got his name, because he has been so curious, came often close to the boat and swam around the boat. He swam towards us and then turned off immediately next to the boat. In this way we were able to see his huge body really close.