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Dolphins catch fish using giant shell tools

Dolphins catch fish using giant shell tools

A dolphin called Arnie with a shell

In Shark Bay, Australia, two groups of dolphins have figured out how to use tools to help them catch fish. They are known as the spongers and the shellers. I introduced you to the spongers in a previous blog so today, let’s meet the shellers. Shelling is a skillful fishing technique practiced by a culturally…

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Did you know that dolphins have unique personalities?

Common dolphins at surface

We all have personalities, and between the work Christmas party and your family get-together, perhaps you notice them even more at this time of year! It’s not so different for dolphins – each dolphin has a different character and role in their pod.  Dolphins are intelligent and self-aware, and they clearly enjoy being together. They…

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Meet Holly, she’s an incredible orca leader

Let me tell you the story of an awe-inspiring orca with a fascinating family story … and then maybe you’d like to adopt her for someone you love this Christmas.  Holly has a wonderfully seasonal name, but it’s actually just one of three names she is known by. She was one of the first whales…

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Meet the legendary pink river dolphins

Botos don’t look or live like other dolphins. Flamingo-pink all over with super-skinny snouts and chubby cheeks, they certainly stand out in a crowd. And they never set a flipper in the ocean – home is the fresh, flowing waters of three mighty South American river basins: the Amazon, Orinoco and Tocantins-Araguaia. The botos’ magnificent realm…

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Did you know dolphins use tools? Meet the Shark Bay spongers …

Dolphin using a sponge as a tool in Shark Bay

Like humans, dolphins live in societies with unique cultures. Like us, they bond with others who share similar traditions and habits. In Shark Bay, Australia, bottlenose dolphin society is multicultural and awesome.  There are the beachers – dolphins who chase fish onto the seashore,  temporarily beaching themselves in the process, and the shellers who lift…

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Growing up with the amazing Adelaide Port River dolphins

A group of bottlenose dolphins lives in the Port River in the city of Adelaide. Adelaide is also home to marine biologist Dr Mike Bossley who set up a project 32 years ago to study and protect these unique dolphins and WDC has supported Mike’s work for much of this time. He has some very…

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Working with Amazon communities to protect pink river dolphins

Whale and Dolphin Conservation is a founding supporter of the Natutama Foundation. Natutama works in the Colombian Amazon developing important and often ground-breaking conservation and education projects with communities to protect dolphins, manatees and other wildlife.  Natutama means ‘everything under the water’ in the Amazon Indian Ticuna language. The Natutama Foundation and the Amazon indigenous communities…

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To save river dolphins, we need to protect their freshwater homes

Further progress has been recently made in reaching the goal of identifying and protecting important habitat for river dolphins. Experts have agreed that a method currently used to identify areas of ocean that are important habitats for whales and oceanic dolphins can also be used to identify important habitats for aquatic mammals such as river…

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WDC Outreach Visits in Welsh Schools

This is a guest blog by WDC long-term volunteer, Pam Styles.  Pam has been helping us run our education pilot project in South Wales.  She has visited a number of schools already and has been impressed by the enthusiasm the children have shown for learning about whales and dolphins and environmental issues. In my role…

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