Cetacean Deaths on Isles of Scilly
Dead rare dolphin and whale found
The bodies of two "highly unusual"
marine mammals have washed ashore
in the Isles of Scilly.
Cornwall
Wildlife Trust said both were found on the western shores of
St Agnes within
days of one another.
The first was a very rare 12ft (3.6m) Sowerby's
beaked whale -
normally a deep water species which feeds off squid and
cuttlefish.
Days later a Risso's dolphin calf was discovered less than
quarter of
a mile away (about 402m).
The trust said, despite the sad
death of both mammals, it provided a
unique opportunity for local scientists
to examine them.
The Sowerby's whale was too big to be taken for a
post-mortem
examination, but members of the trust's Marine Strandings'
Network
collected measurements, photographs and skin samples to be analysed
by the Institute of Zoology.
St Agnes Coastguard Mike Hicks, who
found the animal, said: "It was
sad to see such an impressive animal out of
her natural environment
but I'm pleased we were able to help gather
information from her.
"It was a privilege to see something that most
people never will."
When Mr Hicks was alerted to the dolphin, he sent
photographs to the
Marine Strandings Network who identified it as a Risso.
Risso's dolphins are often seen around Cornwall, although not as
frequently as bottlenose and common dolphins.
The dead animal was
taken to the mainland for post mortem tests at
the Veterinary Laboratories
Agency in Truro.
The trust said initial observations suggested it had
been killed by
bottlenose dolphins.
This phenomenon has previously
been recorded in the Moray Firth,
Scotland, with bottlenose dolphins
attacking and killing harbour
porpoises.
The motives are unclear,
although scientists have considered that
competition for declining food
stocks may trigger the behaviour.
"Despite their friendly image,
bottlenose dolphins can be aggressive
towards one another and on the rare
occasion that we see a dead
bottlenose wash ashore, it often has rake, or
tooth marks inflicted
by its own species," Marine Strandings' Network
co-ordinator Jan
Loveridge said.
"However, we have recently begun to
see an increase in the numbers of
young and female harbour porpoise that
have clearly been attacked by
bottlenose dolphins and results from the post
mortems carried out on
these animals confirm this."
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Published:
2008/09/02 13:53:28 GMT
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