Marine Mammals of Ponta
There are four main species of dolphins that are observed in the area, together with the mightly humpback whale and occasional southern right whales.​
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Check out the special marine mammal species below.​
Research suggests the humpback whale migration is highly structured; females with nursing calves tend to leave first, followed by immatures of both sexes, then the mature males and resting females and lastly females in late pregnancy start the treck.
These departures tend to last around a month. On departing breeding grounds, first off are newly pregnant and resting females, followed by the immatures, mature males and lastly females with newborns. Reference: P.Best
Southern Rights are a rare and exciting visitor to our shores, after their near demise from whaling during which time they were reduced from estimates of 60 000 to only 300 (60 breeding females) in 1920 (IWC, 2001; Jackson et al., 2008; Tormosov et al., 1998).
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Although only a few sightings have been had of this species it provides evidence that southern right whales are using the coastal waters of Mozambique again.
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Did you know whales also have a fingerprint.
For humpback whales it's the back of their fluke(tail) and dorsal fins, for southern rights its the callosities found on the head!
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