Porpoises vs. Dolphins – Survival for the fittest!

Marine biologists with Okeanis, a nonprofit conservation group based in Moss Landing saw a tremendous event in Monterey Bay, California saw creatures of Mother Nature tweaking her rules. It was dolphins, the sea animal which we knew as cute, funny and social. The people who were present there saw a group of bottlenose dolphins attacking and killing a porpoise. They managed to capture a video of this shocking event as well.

It had been a few months since the growing number of dead harbor porpoises washing up on California shores were giving the officials a hell of a lot to think about. No one had a clue of what was going on. The porpoises where washing up on the shore with rake marks and internal bleeding. All the officials were having sleepless nights, trying to solve the mystery.

The video showed a group of male dolphins assaulting a porpoise as it tries to get away. The dolphins corral the porpoise, ram it with their beaks, scrape or rake it with their teeth and then drown the porpoise by pounding on top of it.

“Now we know the how, but we still are unsure of the why,” said Daniela Maldini, president of the Okeanis board. “We have been observing the social structure of these animals and it has taken us 20 years to do that. This type of behavior is something new.”

“It was incredible to finally fit some action to our theories,” said Okeanis field director Mark Cotter, who captured the footage along with fellow researcher Thomas Jefferson. “It diminishes the image of the bottlenose dolphin in a way that wild animals are not like those you see at SeaWorld. They all have their own individual personalities.”

The scientists are trying to find out reasons for this abnormal behavior by these gentle creatures.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Related posts:

1. Pierce Brosnan : Brosnan urges officials in Japan to end slaughter of dolphins, porpoises
2. Dolphins’ fins : Dolphins lift their fins in a similar manner to delta wing aircraft
3. Dolphins can maintain round-the-clock auditory and visual vigilance
4. Dolphins can maintain round-the-clock auditory and visual vigilance (Re-Issue)
5. 6,000 rare, large river dolphins found in Bangladesh