#finfriday this week introduces local #dolphinsofponta Mindi who first made it onto the catalogue in the January of 2007! Mindi was named after a young lady that worked on our project during that time - the now Dr Melinda Rekdahl, a marine mammal acoustic expert. As you can see Mindi has a very recognisable dorsal fin - but, don’t get her confused with male Gaza who’s fin is very similar. The distinctive notch in her fin was caused more than likely from fishing line by the looks of things.
One, calm but cold August Moring in 2012, Mindi was observed giving birth in Ponta Bay. Angie Gullan, who photographed what is thought to be the first wild dolphin birth was initially unclear of what was going on. The visibility was poor and only after running through the options; a remora (suckerfish) and large penis - did she eventually realise that she was indeed witnessing a calving event. After a couple of quick pictures, Angie called the encountour off in order for Mindi to calve in peace. She was seen a couple of days later with newbie in tow so she calved successfully!
Mindi has been entered 225 times onto our data base and has had 6 calves according to our records. Sadly not all have survived and this we can surmise from a very short calving interval in 2011 and 2012. Her most recent calf was born in the September of 2019.
She was last encountered on the 10th March 2020, just prior to Mozambique going into a 4 month state of emergency due to Covid-19. She was in the company of mature females and males who were seemingly in pursuit of her (listen to the males popping in the video). Sadly there was no calf with her and at only 6 months old, should have been close to her side.
Mindi being pursued males.
We look forward to reporting back on Mindi once we are permitted to go to sea again.
thank you for learning about our local dolfriends - please share our blog
To find out how you can go about adopting one of our special finned friends please visit the site of the Society of Dolphin Conservation in Germany.
Don’t forget to checkout our partners at the World Cetacean Alliance to find out more about our vision of A World where cetaceans are only found in the wild, are respected and fully protected!
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