|18-06-2019 am| Bottlenose dolphins interacting with a Sperm whale and 150 Striped dolphins
The morning was full of activity. 11 Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) were found in the South of Faial island.
We could see many sperm whales diving close to the houses south of Faial.
There was a lot of Cory's Shearwaters (Calonectris borealis).
These birds run on the surface of the water before taking off.
There was a huge pod of over 150 Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba).
The pod was swimming fast.
And it had calfs and juveniles.
The Sperm whales came to the surface and we moved again to their area. But what we found was better: two Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were interacting with a Sperm whale. The whale was trying to drive away the dolphins developing singular cross-species interaction behaviours.
Finally the Sperm whale got rid of the Bottlenose dolphins. From the response of the sperm whale, we derive agonistic behaviour from the resident bottlenose towards the seasonal resident sperm whale. Such as been recorded before, also with Rissos' dolphins towards sperm or pilot whales for instance. A bit like local surfers do! An amazing sighting!
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