Naming Game….

As some of you may have read we have recently had a bit of a bottlenose dolphin baby boom here in Cardigan Bay….

See here for the bbc news report and video

Out on a survey yesterday we think we bumped into one of the new calves with their mum Berry which is a dolphin known to us here at Sea Watch as we can identify individuals using photographs of the dorsal fins on their backs.

Mother and calf on survey (Credit Sea Watch Foundation / Jade)

Dorsal fins can be used in a similar way to our finger prints as over the years the dolphins gain nicks, notches and scratches on their fins that never heal making them unique to each dolphin. This allows Sea Watch to track where individuals go, monitor population and migration trends, habitat preferences and an insight into their complex social structures.

Example of a heavily marked dorsal fin showing nicks, notches and scratches that would be used to identify the dolphin (Credit Sea Watch Foundation / Jade)

From these photographs the charity has built up a catalogue of 200-250 dolphins that have passed through Cardigan Bay in which only a small number of these are seen from year to year and are classed as resident dolphins. Berry is classed as one of these ‘resident’ dolphins and if you fancy a go at naming her new calf whilst donating money to the charity then please see below…

Credit Sea Watch Foundation http://www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Screen-Shot-2015-08-06-at-12.02.25.png

Another intern has written a blog on giving animals names and the importance this plays in people connecting to the animals and hence caring about their conservation.

See Lana’s blog here on the importance of naming animals.

Thanks for reading and who knows if you enter a name into the competition you may get chosen… Not many people can say they’ve been able to name a dolphin for £1 and all for a good cause! I’ll upload this weeks blog shortly.

Jade x