5/29/2023 0 Comments Dolphin calf fews weeks old![]() ![]() “I saw the other end of the spectrum, a family bonding,” Martin said. “They are highly intelligent marine animals that live in family societies.”īefore documenting the mother and deceased calf, Martin filmed a playful pod having a blast in the seaweed, chasing fish and each other - even capturing a dolphin hug, he said. “I want to make sure people know these animals are not just fish that swim around in the ocean,” Martin said. Martin debated publishing the video online, because of its sensitivity, but ultimately decided to share it. “It just blew me away,” he said, “seeing it live like that.” Martin said he’d probably never know exactly what was happening with the dolphins, but he was stunned he got to see it. “In my mind, the other two were making sure the one that lost its calf is OK, never mourning alone.: Land beneath Casa Romantica drops 10 feet, halts railroad service through San Clemente Martin wondered if one of the large dolphins, a female, was a grandmother or matriarch of the pod. “It looked almost like a mourning ceremony.” “They have strong connections with family,” Schulman-Janiger added. ![]() “Many of us feel like it’s a sign of grief and mourning, pushing it along and keeping it with them,” she said. ![]() The act seemed as if the assumed mom was having a hard time letting go of her baby, showing their rich emotional ties. The dolphins moved slowly and were oriented toward the dead calf. Dave Anderson in Dana Point documented a similar sight in 2013. “It’s not a common thing to see,” she said, noting that Capt. Schulman-Janiger has been studying whales and dolphins for more than 40 years and though she’s heard of it happening before, had never witnessed the act firsthand. “It could have been carrying the calf longer. “It was tearing me apart knowing what these animals are grieving, due to their intelligence level - which I think surpasses us,” he said. Martin said he believes the calf was just a few weeks old before dying, because folds were still apparent on its skin. While there’s some evidence of dolphins mourning in the same way, there’s not much documentation out there, the aquarist said. The scene reminded Martin of a southern resident killer whale documented in 2018, known as orca J35, who carried her deceased newborn calf with her for 17 days. The solemn film shows the mother with the calf on its nose before it lets the lifeless body go, allowing it to float on the ocean’s surface before going back to retrieve it, gently nudging it again and taking it with her below the ocean’s surface and out of sight before reappearing with it on her back. “Shooting through the water like that, it was such a powerful scene of her trying to put it on top of her head, bring it to the surface. I could see what was going on under the water,” Martin said. ![]() “What made this day different from the first day, the water was so clear. So Martin showed up with drone in hand, again finding the mom still with the pale pink deceased calf, accompanied by two other adult dolphins. The next day, Saturday, May 14, Martin got another call from Schulman-Janiger: The mourning mammals were still spotted off the Peninsula. It was a first in his decades-long pursuit of studying wildlife off the coast. Visitors at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center on Friday, May 13, first told the Gray Whale Census observers - who watch and document gray whale migration as they pass by the Peninsula cliffs - that they had seen porpoises circling around another dead dolphin.Īlisa Schulman-Janiger, director and coordinator of ACS/LA’s shore-based Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project, went to the location and saw the coastal bottlenose dolphin slowly carrying the body of a newborn calf, likely a mother carrying its baby, accompanied by four other dolphins, Martin said. “I just want people to know this is not just an ordinary animal.” “It’s so heart-wrenching,” said Eric Martin, head aquarist for the Roundhouse Aquarium in Manhattan Beach, who, for two days, followed the dolphins and documented their moments of mourning. The grievous moment, which included other dolphins in her pod swimming with the mother, was captured by drone footage - and, experts say, showed the complexity and intelligence of the marine mammal species. The dolphin, assumed to be the mother, carried the dead calf for two days recently, solemnly swimming off Palos Verdes Peninsula’s kelp paddies. The dolphin lifted the baby’s lifeless body to the sea’s surface, nudging the calf with her head before disappearing into the depths of the ocean. ![]()
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