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Fishers' involvement is crucial. Image: WDC/JTF

When porpoises and people overlap

We're funding a project in Hong Kong that's working with fishing communities to help save...

Mindful conservation – why we need a new respect for nature

'We should look at whales and dolphins as the indigenous people of the seas -...
A dolphin called Arnie with a shell

Dolphins catch fish using giant shell tools

In Shark Bay, Australia, two groups of dolphins have figured out how to use tools...
Common dolphins at surface

Did you know that dolphins have unique personalities?

We all have personalities, and between the work Christmas party and your family get-together, perhaps...
Leaping harbour porpoise

The power of harbour porpoise poo

We know we need to save the whale to save the world. Now we are...
Holly. Image: Miray Campbell

Meet Holly, she’s an incredible orca leader

Let me tell you the story of an awe-inspiring orca with a fascinating family story...
Humpback whale. Image: Christopher Swann

A story about whales and humans

As well as working for WDC, I write books for young people. Stories; about the...
Risso's dolphin at surface

My lucky number – 13 years studying amazing Risso’s dolphins

Everything we learn about the Risso's dolphins off the coast of Scotland amazes us and...

Dolphins, genetics and conservation

This past week saw the identification of yet another new species of dolphin (an Australian humpback dolphin called Sousa sahulensis): http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/03/australian-snubfin-and-humpback-dolphins-at-risk-of-localised-extinction?utm_content=buffer59341&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Advances in the use of genetic profiling of dolphins reveals that coastal populations are made up of increasingly smaller and relatively isolated units, rendering them especially susceptible to local extinction.

These fine scale genetic differences will require a fundamental rethink of the way science conceives of conservation. In previous times conservation focussed on large scale units and as long as the general population was not threatened the status of sub groups within the species was not considered very important.

In addition, the new but rapidly advancing field of epigenetics is demonstrating that an organism’s DNA is only part of their genetic story because the environment in which it lives actually determines how the genes function. There is even evidence that the organism’s environment is able to change the very structure of its genes so that their offspring, in essence, inherit their parent’s experiences and environment.

Advances in the study of dolphin culture also reveal behaviours passed from generation to generation which allow them to better adapt to their local environment.

All this points to two conclusions: conserving the diversity of a species means conserving its environments; and that the units of conservation will become ever smaller.

Science still knows very little about the way in which individual animals contribute to the functioning of local dolphin societies but it seems likely that we will find at least some individual dolphins play significant roles.

If (when) the significance of individual dolphins in communities is identified WDC will finally have scientific justification for that which we know to be intrinsically true: every individual dolphin in every dolphin community matters!