21.08.2018 – The Pygmy chronicles

Our snorkelling tour this morning was unsuccessful regarding the targeted underwater encounters with Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) BUT was surprisingly eventful despite this unfortunate circumstance. After witnessing a small feeding situation involving Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and enjoying a sighting involving a herd of socialising Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), our spotter informed us of a group of small cetaceans further out at sea. Imagining that these may be our snorkeling dolphins after all, we sped off in that direction.

These cetaceans, however, were not the dolphins we were expecting. The animals were calmly logging at the waters surface, a behaviour often displayed by Pilot whales, yet they were much smaller in size and their fins falcate like that of smaller oceanic dolphins, implying from a distance that they may be Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis). We approached the animals carefully and they cautiously avoided us, occasionally cutting at the ocean’s surface as they slid away. It was during this careful pursuit that we were able to observe an important feature; a rounded forehead and a white streak outlining the animals jaws. The absence of a camera on board made the identification even harder but our traditional boat took heading and managed to find the animals.

Our hunch was that these animals must have been either Melon-headed whales (Peponocephala electra) or Pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata). These two species posess very similar characteristics and are often mixed up during encounters at sea. So we waited until the end of the day to go through our photos and analyse the animals features. Two of our guests managed to make brilliant photos displaying the characteristic rounded head and  flippers. We sent the photos to experts on the island and received our confirmation: the animals were the rarely sighted Pygmy killer whales!

Our lucky guests on board today can be proud to have witnessed probably the best of three confirmed sightings of this species in the last 10 years around the island. Pygmy killer whales are dark-colored delphinids that reach around 2.6m in length, with lips that may sometimes be white in colour, as seen in the captured photos of one of our frequent guests. She also captured the rounded forehead of the animals which led us to the initial assumption during the first sighting of the day involving these creatures (along with their slow, lethargic logging behavior) that they may have been young Pilot whales. Little is known about these rare animals except that they feed on fish and squid and, occasionally, even attack other dolphins.

The animals were sighted again during our tour in the evening, where another guest managed to capture one of them breaching where it exposed its rounded flipper which helped wrap up the identification process. The sightings of this rare species is yet another development in a succession of sightings involving seldomly encountered cetaceans in this eventful month of August. Only last week a Pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps) carcass was reported by one of our guides, Fatima Kutzschbach, and is currently being necropsied at the Whale museum in an effort to determine the cause of the animals demise. The long fang-like teeth of these cetaceans allow them to forage in deep waters for cepahlopods and they can be identified by their slow, sluggish movement, their dark dorsal cape and their tiny dorsal fin. Pygmy sperm whales are shy animals and are therefore rarely spotted in the archipelagos waters. A small group some time ago, however, did not escape the eagle eyes of our talented spotter but sightings with the animals during our tours were too difficult due to their evasive behavior. An unidentified cetacean that was assumed to belong to this species surfaced during the midday tour on the Stenella but disappeared too abruptly for it to be photographed and the species to be confirmed. Nonetheless, both crew and guests enjoyed an incredible sighting with Rough-toothed dolphins (Steno bredanensis), a highly intelligent deep-diving species of dolphin that occasionally frequents the island and never fails to astonish us with its gregarious nature.

This was a special day for Lobosonda; such sightings allow us to actively contribute to research about these remarkable creatures. Moreover, it helps us grow and learn. It’s good to be reminded of the importance of humility in our line of work; we still have so much to discover and we are eager to pass this on and share it with our guests! While we are on the subject of guests; well done to those who snapped the phenomenal pictures that helped us identifying these animals (you know who you are 😉 ). You did an amazing job and we will keep you in the loop! August has truly been an exciting month for whale-watching, let’s see what’s next!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Loggerhead turtle , Pygmy Killer whales, Short-finned pilot whales

17:00 Pygmy Killer whales, Sperm whales

Stenella

09:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Pygmy killer whales, Short-finned pilot whales

12:00 Rough-toothed dolphins, Unidentified cetacean