New Population of Rare Irrawaddy Dolphins Found in the Philippines
Irrawaddy dolphins found off the coast of the Island Palawan
by Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan / WWF
April 2013. - A new population of critically-endangered Irrawaddy dolphins has been found in the Philippines by Mavic Matillano of the WWF Palawan team. Spotted by chance off Palawan - along the coastline of the West Philippine Sea - this pod of rare marine mammals, locally called Lampasut, was observed displaying typical behaviour, foraging for prey around lift net fish traps sitting approximately one kilometre offshore.
Previous populations of these dolphins - gifted with features that offer the barest hint of a congenial smile - have been documented in Malampaya Sound, as well as off the island of Panay. The Quezon pod represents the fourth known group of Irrawaddy dolphins reported in the Philippines…
(read more: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/Philippines-irrawaddy.html#cr)
(photo: WWF-Philippines / Mavic Matillano)
Great news!
(via deepblueseawhales)
You gots to have standards.
Dear people of the world (and in particular any Wildscreen wonders),
This is a taster of some of the work I was involved with in the Philippines earlier this year. It features both WWF-Philippines and Non Government Organisation (NGO) Physalus and their Large Marine Vertebrate Project.
I will be going back out to the Philippines in January 2013 and will be working on Physalus’ Large Marine Vertebrate Project. I intend to film updates from our projects and share them with you all. Unfortunately to make this possible I need to get some more vital equipment. Ideally I would love for someone to sponsor this project (dreams).
If you think you could help in anyway, or would simply like to find out more then I would be delighted to hear from you: sallysnowglobe@gmail.com
Thanks for stopping by,
Sally x
Sally’s video about an NGO I work for featuring ME somewhere in the middle! Great work Sal, good luck with the pitch!
Risso’s dolphin (by toryjk)
Risso’s dolphins are characteristically covered in scratches - the more as they get older, so mature individuals appear white - from all the scars!
Two adult Fraser’s Dolphins (Lagenodelphis hosei), one male and one female were found dead offshore by fishermen in a nearby town yesterday. They towed them back, as is protocol for examination by the local agricultural (and fisheries) office. Since the organization I work for conducted the stranding training for the local office, we were invited along.
The house me and my volunteers stay in belongs to the municipality and is already the resting place of one whale shark and two dolphins. The agriculture office arranged to transport the dolphins back ‘home’ and we were able to necropsy both before the sun went down.
Both had scars/wounds typical of being entangled in a fishing net. They also had several bite marks from another dolphin.
The female was still lactating, which isn’t good news for the orphan. However the fishermen reported that they see pods of Fraser’s whilst they fish everyday, so hopefully it was ‘adopted’!
The dolphins got a lot of attention whilst we were waiting for the transport back home. Questions answered included:
- What kind of fish is that?
- Can we eat it?
- Did you kill it?
I had never performed a necropsy before, and anatomy has never been my strong suit but I had the helpful hands of Roy, one of my volunteers, and the local Agricultural officer, my boss on skype to tell me what to do, and about 20 people to watch.
Turns out, it’s hard. Hard to remove the skin, and cut through the muscle - though this was most likely due to the utter failure of a knife we had available. And as obvious as the uterus should be, it was hiding from us. Even sticking your fingers up the dolphin’s vagina didn’t help. But the sun had pretty much set by that point.
I spent the rest of the evening cleaning up blood, soaking my flip flops and t-shirt, labeling samples and stomach contents, and collapsing on my bed.
Naughty Octopus
June 13, 2012 An octopus clings to the genital slit of a bottlenose dolphin.
CREDIT: Joan Gonzalvo/Tethys Research Institute, via The Ionian Dolphin Project
LA.MA.VE is the Large Marine Vertebrates Project - The organization I currently work for (researching, not feeding whale sharks) in the Philippines held the 2nd Annual Dolphin Festival in Bohol yesterday. The Bohol Sea is a hot spot for cetaceans and the festival aims to raise awareness, and promote protection of the marine environment.
Sadly I couldn’t go but it looked awesome! Face paint, murals, games, films, a parade…and it looks like everyone got involved. Next year, next year.
This is a photo Ale took whilst we were out on a survey yesterday in the Bohol Sea. It’s a melon-headed whale (which is actually a dolphin)…and is just one of the species we saw whilst we were out. The others included: Fraiser Dolphins, Spinner Dolphins, Dwarf Sperm Whales and we even saw a mobula (similar to a manta ray) jump out of the water!! Amazing day. More photos to follow soon…
Photo: Alessandro Ponzo
Dolphin mega-podapocalypse off coastal California.
Mega-podapocalypse is right!
“Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much… the wheel, New York, wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons.”
