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Dolphin Watch
Pulling a fast one
By ANN WEAVER
Article published on Thursday, May 15, 2008
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![[Image]](/content_images/051508_out-01.jpg) |
| Photo by ANN WEAVER |
| Local bottlenose dolphin Nipple Face, named for the pattern of tatters on the trailing edge of its dorsal fin, catches a ride on a local water taxi. |
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Have you ever heard of positive stress? You know, an unexpected visit from a beloved friend but the timing was bad. Or you think you know what’s going on but you only know part of it and you get to learn something new. On the other hand, maybe stress is stress and positive stress is an oxymoron.
When the spring seas were warming steadily but the humidity was still at bay, we got a dose of positive stress from bottlenose dolphin bulls BB and DD2.
It started with dolphins scattered across adjacent bays. To collect data in these circumstances, you try to work systematically, getting photographic data on each animal in turn. Total counts (how many dolphins altogether) are glaringly unreliable.
The first dolphin was a large local, Nipple Face, named for the look of the tatters on the trailing edge of its dorsal fin. Nipple Face is a long-standing skeptic of our research boat. It typically only allows us proximity to itself if with other dolphins who are more familiar with us. So it was a pleasant surprise that it swung by the boat a couple of times at close range. I got the easiest pictures of Nipple Face ever.
I thought I saw more dots in the distance, which could have meant more dolphins, to the west. But we definitely saw two dolphins to the north. We went to them next.
It was BB and DD2, the latter named for his signature split dorsal fin. Like Nipple Face, they were hunting and mostly out of view. They’d been in these waters for the last couple of weeks.
It was noteworthy to see them together. A number of local bulls are engaged in on-going discussion about which bull pairs to form. Bottlenose dolphin bulls sometimes establish life-long partnerships of 2s or 3s. Its an unusual form of social psychology but effective: Pairs of bulls out-compete bulls who work alone. Judging from the social trade-offs between BB, DD2, N, Lax and Midface, establishing bull bonds is a complicated and drawn-out affair. I’m not laying down any bets just yet.
These thoughts were interrupted by the low steady hum of an approaching boat. No fancy yacht this, but a nice solid vessel. Broad of beam, it plowed past stolidly, pulling the prettiest little rollers off its wake. I’m not sure the captain, piloting from the flying bridge, ever saw the dolphins dancing in his wake.
Like dropping everything for a summer barbeque, BB and DD2 launched at the solid vessel and disappeared in its wash. Nipple Face did the same.
They surfed and leapt in the rollers. First they surfed portside. Then they switched to starboard. They ran with the solid vessel for over a mile. Ah, what an exhilarating part of being a dolphin. It was like they caught a water taxi and rode it to the bridge.
At the bridge, we all pulled up into the no wake zone. Two of the dolphins swung by the boat. Because they came at us head-on, I couldn’t see their fins to identify them. But one of the fins was split. Thanks, DD2! Great stuff! Great pictures!
We resumed our survey of the study area by heading back north at speed to where the dolphins had picked up the solid vessel.
A quarter mile past that spot, there were two dolphins. They headed over directly: BB and DD2.
Captain John Heidemann and I stared at each other with dropped jaws. No. It can’t be BB and DD2. They just surfed all the way down to the bridge. They could not have swum back up as fast as we came back. Impossible. This cannot be them.
Well, it is them.
Helpfully, my mind hummed a few bars of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone theme song.
We went back and forth, trying to piece together how these two dolphins could be here when we just left them 2 miles to the south at the bridge. That was the stress part of today’s positive stress.
Thank god, I collect data. In solving this case, the words didn’t help. The photographs of the surfers did.
Heidemann and I both saw BB and DD2 swim to the solid vessel and we both saw Nipple Face do the same. Naturally we assumed they were the dolphins who surfed the solid vessel to the bridge. Let’s not over-think this.
But you just can’t assume. The pictures told the real story. Nipple Face was one of the surfers. BB and DD2 were not. Instead the surfers were females P, Q, Courtney and DD1 (the other dolphin with the split dorsal fin).
There were plenty of positives in the positive stress of this maritime moment. BB and DD2 surfed for a short time but then dropped back and returned to their hunting grounds. This is where we found them both times. I HAD seen dolphins to the west: They were the female surfers. The split-fin dolphin who’d greeted us at the bridge was DD1, not DD2.
Maybe positive stress is an oxymoron. But I don’t think so. This was positive stress because we did figure it out. And it serves as the vital reminder that when you think you know what’s going on, you probably only know part of the story. Hope you like learning!
Dr. Weaver studies wild dolphins under federal permit GA1088-1815, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Send her an e-mail at acweaver@tampabay.rr.com or visit www.dazzlingdolphins.com.
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Article published on Thursday, May 15, 2008
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