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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...

Caught on camera – meet the dolphins of the Azores

WDC’s Sarah Dolman reports on her final days in the Azores where she helped carry out field work for a local research organization, Nova Atlantis, this summer.

In my 4 weeks on Pico we saw more pods of Risso’s dolphins than any other species! In the 15 years that the study has been underway, Nova Atlantis have photographed 1,250 individual dolphins, about 150 of which live in the survey around. The rest have a wider home range and are just passing through.


Nova Atlantis have discovered that Risso’s dolphins don’t have the same social structure as bottlenose dolphins or pilot whales. As the males age, they form more stable pods with other males. This is rare in the animal world and it’s thought that these alliances may help them to get females and also to defend their habitat. We saw this first hand when a small group of local male Risso’s scared off both northern bottlenose whales and pilot whales – both larger pods and larger animals than resident Risso’s.

The females form looser groups, but they cluster together when they have young calves, we assume to enable mutual protection, for example from sharks, and to enable more productive foraging. These females stick closer to the shore when their calves are very young.

Nova Atlantis have been investigating the scar patterns on Risso’s dolphins to understand their ages better, more scars means older animals. It seems there is lots we can learn from them including that the scars are stable and remain over time. This helps us to identify individuals from one survey year to another. Risso’s dolphins mainly eat gelatinous cephalopods (squid), which don’t require teeth to capture or eat, so the teeth may be a sign of ‘male quality’ and the older and more scratched a male is, the more attractive he is to a potential mate.  The females are also less scratched on their bodies than the males, which may mean they are more peaceful in their interactions. This work on aging has also shown us that Risso’s dolphins can live for 50 years!

We also had amazing encounters with lots of other incredible species whilst I was in the Azores. Here is some underwater video footage that we were lucky enough to collect of false killer whales and spotted dolphins when they came to interact with our survey vessel.

It’s two weeks since I returned from my trip to Pico to learn about the Risso’s dolphins and I’m now on the Isle of Lewis, back at WDC’s own field study, where we have had pods of Scottish Risso’s dolphins already! But more about that in another blog to follow…

Risso’s dolphins

False killer whales

Spotted dolphins