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We're at COP28 to Save the Whale, Save the World.

We’re at COP28 to save the whale, save the world

Ed Goodall Ed is WDC's head of intergovernmental engagement. He meets with world leaders to...
Gray whales from drone.

We’re taking steps to uncover the mysteries of whales

Vicki James Vicki is WDC's protected areas coordinator, she helps to create safe ocean spaces...
We must protect our non-human allies. Image: Tom Brakefield, aurore murguet, johan63

We’re urging governments to protect all of our climate heroes – CITES

Katie Hunter Katie supports WDC's engagement in intergovernmental conversations and is working to end captivity...
The Natütama Foundation are dedicated to protecting endangered river dolphins. Image: Natutama

Guardians of the Amazon: protecting the endangered river dolphins

Ali Wood Ali is WDC's education projects coordinator. She is the editor of Splash! and KIDZONE,...
Amazon river dolphins. Image: Fernando Trujillo/Fundacion Omacha

Amazon tragedy as endangered river dolphins die in hot water

Ali Wood Ali is WDC's education projects coordinator. She is the editor of Splash! and KIDZONE,...
Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin © Mike Bossley/WDC

WDC in Japan – Part 3: Restoring freedom to dolphins in South Korea

Katrin Matthes Katrin is WDC's communications and campaigns officer for policy & communication in Germany...
Wintery scene in Iceland

Seeking sanctuary – Iceland’s complex relationship with whales

Hayley Flanagan Hayley is WDC's engagement officer, specialising in creating brilliant content for our website...
Whaling ship Hvalur 8 arrives at the whaling station with two fin whales

A summer of hope and heartbreak for whales in Icelandic waters

Luke McMillan Luke is WDC's Head of hunting and captivity. Now that the 2023 whaling season...

What Risso’s dolphins in the Azores can teach us

First we saw the white movement, gracefully weaving under the water. The unmistakeable turquoise water above a pod of mature Risso’s dolphins who were swimming just below the surface, at some distance from our boat, off Pico in the Azores. This made me feel at home, we see the same behaviour in our own study area in the Minch off the Isle of Lewis in western Scotland.

The slow surfacing of a blunt white head was followed by a tall white dorsal fin as the first old male surfaced. The next dolphin up had a pinky tinge around his eye, an older dolphin still, perhaps? The hairs stand up on the back of my neck – this old man could be the same age as me!

Unlike the pods of sub-adults who appear to have something to prove and race around, cavorting and consorting with females (and chasing northern bottlenose whales and pilot whales as in my previous blog), these old white males move leisurely and just seem to want an easy life. This group of five were minding their own business.

Every time we see a Risso’s pod approaching, there is an expectation and a hope of seeing mother and calf pairs. This is the first summer season that the sub-adults and old bachelors groups have made up the majority of pods seen. There have been new-born calves in my few weeks here but less mother and calf pairs than in previous years – when the study area has been full of mother Risso’s and their young calves. I was lucky enough, however, to see this lovely yellow-faced youngster quite far offshore one lovely calm day last week.

Seeing so few mother-calf pairs is a cause of note and concern, as this is recognised as an important calving area that is close to shore – just like our Risso’s study site in Scotland.

The Risso’s dolphins here are more plentiful and much easier to find than back at home in Scotland. Having been studied for 15 years now, most of the individuals and groups that we have encountered are known, and well-studied. Knowing who likes to hang out with who, the number of calves that a female has had, when she had them and if they survived, as well as the ages and the sex of each dolphin only comes with a serious investment of time and is a massive undertaking. These are questions that we are still grappling with in Scotland, with only 5 years of data so far.

I suspect there are more Risso’s here off Pico than off Lewis also because there are striking differences in human interactions between the two study sites. Whilst both populations likely have noisy military exercises to contend with, the Azorean Risso’s interact primarily with whale watching boats (shown to have an impact when more than 5 vessels are present) and swim with programmes, whilst in Scotland there are almost never other boats interacting with the dolphins when we study them, but often large fishing vessels in the vicinity and coastal dredging of their habitats is a primary concern.

Identifying individuals, where they hang out and potential impacts are the first important steps to better conservation of the Risso’s dolphins and their habitats – through precautionary managment of human activities.