Tethys Research Institute - Ionian Dolphin Project
Bottlenose dolphin mother mourning her dead newborn calf in the Amvrakikos Gulf, Greece
On the 3rd and 4th of July, 2007, a bottlenose dolphin was observed interacting with a dead newborn for several hours in the semi-closed waters of the Amvrakikos Gulf, Greece.
The observations were documented by 532 digital photos taken on the first day, and 138 photos taken on the second day (see a selection of 48 photos).
Please report any comment, observation or literature to Joan Gonzalvo.
On the 3rd and 4th of July, 2007, a common bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus was observed interacting with a dead newborn calf in the semi-closed waters of the Amvrakikos Gulf, Greece.
The behaviour of the presumed mother was observed by Tethys researchers Joan Gonzalvo Villegas and Zsuzsanna Pereszlenyi and by Earthwatch volunteers for approximately 4.5 hours under an oppressive summer heat, in a dead-calm sea.
Whilst researchers must avoid being driven by their own feelings and make arbitrary interpretations, in this case it appeared that the mother was mourning. She seemed to be unable to accept the death of her calf and was behaving as if there was any hope of rescuing him.
She lifted the little corpse above the surface, in an apparent late attempt to let the calf breath. She also pushed the calf underwater, perhaps hoping that the baby could dive again. These behaviours were repeated over and over again, and sometimes frantically, across two days of observation.
The mother did never separate from her calf. From the boat, the researchers could hear heartbreaking cries while she touched her offspring with the rostrum and pectoral fins.
From time to time, other dolphins from the Amvrakikos Gulf population (estimated to include approximately 150 individuals) approached briefly to see what was going on. But they did not show much interest and the mother was soon left alone with her grief.
A source of concern for the researchers was that the mother was never observed diving or feeding during about 2 hours of observations on the first day, and another 2.5 hours on the second day. Bottlenose dolphins are large warm-blooded marine mammals with high metabolic rates, and are supposed to take much food to stay healthy. Spending long hours or even days after a dead calf could potentially weaken the mother and threaten her survival.
Because of the heat, the calf - floating dead at the surface - was quickly decomposing and the last photos show a bloated calf lacking large pieces of skin and with wounds caused by the decomposition processes. The mother was seen removing pieces of skin and tissue from the corpse with her teeth.
The researchers on board did not feel like taking the calf away from the mother to perform scientific investigations (e.g. a necropsy of the calf). Their decision was intended as a form of respect towards a highly-evolved animal, the suffering of whom was obvious enough. All the researchers did was record behavioural information at 1-min intervals, throughout the observations, and collect a small sample of the calf's skin for future genetic analyses.
The mother was a known animal (ID: 03046) who has been observed in the Gulf since 2003. In September 2004 she had another calf, who apparently survived.
Although Tethys researchers conduct photo-identification surveys in the Gulf almost on a daily basis, at the time when this report is being written (August 2007) the mother was not encountered again. It would be interesting to see if the mother will be encountered in the future and how she behaves. We hope that eventually she will accept the loss of her baby as an event that - albeit grim - is not infrequent among wild dolphins.
Giovanni Bearzi
For additional information on bottlenose dolphins in the Amvrakikos Gulf see: