Posts by Alison Wood
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…
Read MoreDid you know dolphins use tools? Meet the Shark Bay spongers …
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…
Read MoreGrowing 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…
Read MoreAmazing, beautiful Commerson’s dolphins and what we’re doing to protect them
Have you heard of Commerson’s dolphins? These little-known dolphins are beautiful, full of character and in trouble. We’ve been studying and working to protect them for 25 years now and to celebrate I thought I’d share the lives of these remarkable dolphins with you, including the story of a wonderful dolphin mother named Frank. WDC…
Read MoreWorking 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…
Read MoreTo 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…
Read MoreWDC 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…
Read MoreTalking Whales and Poo to Children
WDC has recently been visiting schools in South Wales helping children learn about whales and dolphins and their ocean homes. Do whales have belly buttons? Can dolphins talk to whales? Do they get stung when they eat jellyfish? Can a dolphin die if it eats a balloon or bag? Can a baby dolphin drown if…
Read MoreDolphins at Risk from Amazon Dams
Most people assume dolphins live in the sea. But there is a small, less well-known group that can live hundreds of miles from the coast, swimming in freshwater rivers and lakes. The Amazon River dolphins of South America, also known as botos, are a flagship species and a symbol of the huge range of wildlife…
Read MoreWale im Kopf #5: Das englische WDC-Büro
WDC vermittelt weltweit faszinierendes Wissen über Wale und Delfine und begeistert Jung und Alt für diese ganz besonderen Meeresbewohner. Im Sommer 2016 wurde WDC für sein Engagement mit dem ASCOBANS Bildungspreis ausgezeichnet, ein wertvolle Anerkennung für unser jahrelanges Engagement. Mit fünf internationalen WDC Büros und einem Delfinbesucherzentrum in Schottland erreichen wir ein breitgefächertes Publikum und…
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