A face everybody can love.
By Jake Keeton

1. News

Bottlenose Dolphins are the most widely known species of dolphin worldwide. A direct result from decades of exploitation in the entertainment industry. Dolphin shows at Oceanariums and Movies have lead to the species being recognized worldwide. The intelligence and playfulness of specifically the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose dolphin makes them a sort after species for trainers in Oceanariums as they respond quickly to training. This species has been observed in the wild playing with shells, sea sponges and other objects. Another factor to consider regarding their popularity is their extremely cute face and large eyes relative to other cetacean species.

Our very city used to be known for its "amazing dolphin shows", thankfully this is no longer the case and slowly but surely, we are becoming known as the best place in the world to have authentic encounters with wild Bottlenose Dolphins doing what they do best in their natural environment. It is not uncommon to come across pods in excess of 500 individuals in Algoa Bay. Aside from the size of the pods, Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins are sighted in Algoa Bay nearly every single day of the year. I personally have only had 6 days without seeing Bottlenose Dolphins in Algoa Bay over the past 7 years of skippering for Raggy Charters. In 2016 Algoa Bay was launched as the Bottlenose Dolphin Capital of the world for having larger pods and more frequent sightings compared to anywhere else in the world.

Just like all other animals, Dolphins are the cutest when they are young. Recently we have been observing large numbers of Bottlenose calves in Algoa Bay and its going down a treat with our guests. It’s amazing to watch how these new tiny members of the pod keep up with the others and stay glued to mom’s side. Indo-Pacific Bottlenose dolphins are born at a length between 86 and 115cm after an average gestation period of 371 days. Most births take place during Summer and Autumn, with the rest spread throughout the year. The calves will suckle from mom for roughly 3 years before being weaned off. They can suckle up to 30 times in one hour immediately after birth. They obviously come out with quite the appetite. This frequency of suckling slowly decreases until after 6 months they are suckling roughly 6 times an hour. It is at 6 months of age that the calves usually start to feed on fish and other prey. Calf mortality in Bottlenose Dolphins is rather high, up to 29% of calves die within their first year, 18% in their second year and then only 3% in their third year. During our cruises we have seen dolphins carrying their deceased calves and keeping them near the surface (epimeletic behaviour). With the abundance of shallow reef and food available for our local dolphin population we hope that these figures are lower in Algoa Bay and that most of the calves we have been seeing during the last week will make it to that three-year mark. For the time being we will keep snapping shots of them and enjoy the sightings of the large pods. At least until our attention is grabbed by the fast-approaching Sardine Run expected to hit our bay in April.