Long-finned pilot whale
Long-finned pilot whale
Long-finned pilot whale
Long-finned pilot whale
Jens and his
Seacam baby ;-)
Long-finned pilot whales
Yesterday evening I thought that meeting the giant fin whales would be the highlight of this trip to the Azores... This morning we found a pod of pilot whales who had congregated by Lajes (Pico Island - Azores) and were trying to have a rest. A couple of large bottlenose dolphins - also known as Flipper - seemed however to be having great fun diving into the group of around 30 pilot whales, and scattering them. The pilot whales had many young in the group. I have often attempted to photograph pilot whales, but I have usually not been soooo successful ;-) But this group was quite different. I was able to dive right into the group without a single animal shying away. However, one pilot whale - probably the boss of this pod - started to watch me more and more after a while, and swam circles around me. He bit me gently in the right flipper, and gave me a light bash on the back with his tail. I interpreted this behaviour as a gentle warning - "keep your distance from my girls and their kids!". I had to in any case, as I could not have taken any pictures that close (half a meter and less). One "pilot whale mummy" posed properly for the pictures, though her child hid behind its mother. Unbelievable! Joana ("skipper trainee") and Joao (skipper, guide and photographer) , who were watching from the boat, told me afterwards that I had been part of the pilot whale pod. Having examined the photos, I had captured "long-finned pilot whales", which are apparently rarely photographed, with most photos being of the "short-finned" species. The long-finned pilot whales usually live more northerly than the Azores - for example around the Faroe Islands. I do not know much about pilot whales, and would be very grateful for any comments or additional information for this page.
I NEVER want to touch animals living in the wild, in order to avoid injuries due to infections etc. Wild animals should also always have a way out, and never feel crowded by humans! I consider it to be a great privilege to ba able to work with rare animals.
www.acsonline.org/factpack/PilotWhale.htm
www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx
www.whaledolphintrust.co.uk/whales_dolphins/long-finned-pilot-whale.asp
