Virginia Beach Dolphins Update

The three definite identified matches were Moja, Ocrab and Monkey Wrench pictured above. Moja and Ocrab were last seen here in 2006 and Monkey Wrench in January 2009.

Octopus Update

The visiting Octopus Vulgaris appeared one morning as a dead gelatinous blob. She must have shown up after tending her eggs when there would be little time left before she would die as part of her natural life cycle.

Virginia Beach Dolphins Have Returned

When we were out on Photo ID today we identified the
dolphins that have also been identified at Virginia Beach, VA..
More details and pictures next week.

Octopus Visitor -- Shy and Smart

This Octopus has been under Keith's dock for the last 3 days. That means (let's call her she) she has come into and up the Newport River almost to Core Creek.They are often seen on the coast here but it may be pretty unusual for them to be this far inland.
She is an octopus vulgaris or Common Octopus. She is part of a group of Mollusks called Cephalapods who are among the most evolved and intelligent invertebrates. Through giving them complex tasks to solve we have learned that they have both long and short term memories and learn quickly. Some people who work with them in captivity think they may even like to play tricks on us. Their eyes are similar to ours, they have a cornea, lens and retina. Some octopus see color but not the Octopus vulgaris.
For protection they can release a purple-black ink when they feel threatened for camouflage and to temporarily destroy the predator's sense of smell. They are short-lived. The males generally die shortly after mating and the females usually die after they have protected their eggs for about a month during which their appetite is reduced. An article in Science News describes a gland, the optic gland, that seems to dictate when they die. Their mouth is like a parrot's beak and is found where the legs come together. It is the only rigid part of their body. One of their fascinating characteristics is their ability to change the texture and color of their mantle.

2 Pairs of Bonded Males- 1st Winter Dolphins

We photographed our first winter bottlenose dolphins October 23rd - a little earlier than usual. We saw two pairs of bonded males that have been photographed together - Onion and Butterfly since 1993 and Mohammed and Buddha since 1994. Adult male bottlenose dolphins often form pair bonds that last a few years or until one of them dies. Research suggests the pairs have often been in the same juvenile group. These four dolphins have been seen in the summer at Manteo, NC together in the same pairs we see here in Beaufort.
The photo shows Onion and Butterfly, Onion is the one with the dorsal fin notched on the leading edge. Sorry the picture is old and not so good. Since our focus is photo ID, 99% of our photos are of individual fins. I had to go back to 1997 to find this one.
Male pair bonds are a fascinating subject that needs more study. They seem to vary due to location. If anyone out there has information about this, please comment.

Parade of Freeze Brands

On Wednesday.October 21 we saw 4 dolphins with freeze brands in the Beaufort area. The freeze brand numbers are: FB 717; FB 730; FB421 and FB 416.

FB 717 has also been seen in Manteo, NC and Virgina Beach, VA.

FB 717











FB730 FB416

FB 421

Spirit Sperm Whale Painting at Bonehenge

For our Bonehenge building where we are re-articulating the sperm whale skeleton, Karen Hattman designed and painted a unique and beautiful painting for the outside of the building. It is her interpretation of the spirit of 'our' whale in the Pacific Northwest Native American style. It is a powerful experience to approach the building and be greeted by this image. I am certain that it will assist us and our work to honor the life of this great whale.

Journey of our sperm whale painting from her studio to its new home at Bonehenge

loading up from Karen's studio and away down the driveway

lifting, positioning and attaching painting to building

covered for unveiling

Karen describing the symbolic meaning unveiling the painting

North Atlantic Right Whale Mom and Calf

Mom is on the left and the calf on the right in the single picture above. In the other pictures, the calf is the one with the white belly showing. .

Click on pictures to enlarge them.

Photos by Keith Rittmaster & Brooks.












We had a truly exciting sighting of a right whale mom and her calf, the calf was less than 3 months old.
This was a while ago, May 23, 2008, but looking at these pictures again I had to share them.
New England Aquarium keeps a catalog of Atlantic Right Whales, identifying each whale by several criteria, especially their unique pattern of callosities (raised tissue) primarily on the top of the head.
It was a beautiful sunny day, May 23, 2008, we were out doing our dolphin Photo ID work when we saw the pair. There had been reports by boaters of sightings for the past 2 days, but we hadn't been able to verify them. We were thrilled by their beauty and saddened that less than 400 of them are surviving in the Atlantic Ocean.
They were 1/2 a km off Shackleford Banks and 3 km east of Beaufort Inlet near Cape Lookout, NC. The right whale females are usually 9 or 10 before their first calf. The males don't usually sire a calf until about 15 years of age. Gestation is 12 - 14 months and the calves only stay with their Mom for approximately a year. A short time for a whale .Since they spend 80% of their time under water, there is much we don't know.
this is the energetic calf.








To have perspective, the right whales grow up to 55 feet long and to 70 tons. That is big. This is Mom in front of a boat. Remember, the dorsal fin you see, is only about 1/2 way down the body.

We learned from New England Aquarium that they know this female well. She is #1321 and named Mono. She was first photographed in our area in October 1990 with a young calf. This calf from 2008 is her fourth, the last one was born in 2004. There is often 6 -7 year interval between calves. Interestingly, this one was born quite late and her first calf (that we know about) in 1990 was born quite early. I guess she didn't read the book.
This link, rwcatalog will take you to the New England Aquarium North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog, click search for individual whales and put in her #1321.
A sighting like this is a gift that stays with you.

'Cape Lookout Studies Program' T-Shirt & Mud

Notice two things.1. Pink 'Cape Lookout Studies Program' T-shirt and 2. feet are invisible because they are sunk deep down in marsh mud.
Be careful this doesn't happen to you when you wear your 'Cape Lookout Studies Program' T-Shirt.

photo by Paula Gilikin. Taken on Rachael Carson Reserve.

WOW !! 14 Known Dolphins in One Sighting & Stats

On September 14th, 09 we had a sighting in the nearby estuary for our dolphin photo ID program and it turns out that 14 of the dolphins that day are ones already known to us and catalogued. that makes for an exciting discovery with data.



photos by Keith Rittmaster



September Stats:
Summer dolphins still here.
6 days on the water
A total of 7 sightings with 68 distinct dolphins.
capelookoutstudies.org web site received 220 hits in September.
bonehenge.org received 5,516 hits and this blog received 108 hits.
Bonehenge is hot.
We continue to collect monofilament.

"Protect Wild Dolphins" Scholarships

Scholarships.

The following North Carolina students whose work promotes the protection of wild dolphins had abstracts accepted for presentation at the 18th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Quebec City, Canada, October 12 through 16, 2009. These four students were each awarded a $210 grant from the "Protect Wild Dolphins" license plate income through the Friends of the Maritime Museum, Beaufort, NC.
These students are:

Laura E. Bagge. UNCW. Thermal Properties of the blubber of adult short - finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus)

Reny Tyson. Duke. Abundance and Community Structure of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the

Big Bend of Florida, St. Vincent Sound to Alligator Harbor.

Sara McClelland. UNCW. Variation in the vascular patterns of
blubber in shallow and deep diving
Odontocetes: implications for diving
physiology ?

Anna McGregor. Duke. Modeling the cost of locomotion for traveling and foraging North Atlantic

Right whales with a computational
fluid dynamics simulation.

Congratulations !! Keep up the good work.

Bonehenge. Marine Mammalogy Conference. Fun Dolphin Pictures.

It is busy here in many ways. Keith is going to Quebec City, Canada in early October to present a poster session on creating a skeletal display from a stranded sperm whale at the biennial Biology of Marine Mammals Conference. This is the poster.

To see a legible version of the Bonehenge Poster go to bonehenge.org and click on 'Bonehenge Updates' on the front page and then on 'bonehenge Poster'.

We've been out on the boat doing Photo ID often in the last weeks. As is pretty typical of September we have seen some larger groups of dolphins in the estuary and in the ocean, primarily adults but a few calves. They have often been in shallow water and have seemed very energetic. We too have felt more energetic as the intense heat and humidity have lessened. These are photos from these sightings.





The dolphins were swimming under the boat, around the boat, away from the boat and toward the boat, with each other and separately. They would zoom around and then slow down and stop. They didn't seem to be feeding. Since they are so fast,
some of the pictures are just after the 'perfect moment'.
photos by Keith Rittmaster

August 2009 Stats

Bottlenose Dolphin Photo-ID. Our sightings of dolphins continue to be low for this time of year. We did see 'Oprah' with a nursery group and 'Caitlin' with her calf.
We were out on the water 8 days in August
We had 3 separate sightings and
We have photos of 13 distinct, and therefore identifiable, dorsal fins.

http://capelookoutstudies.org/ web site received 312 hits this month.
http://www./bonehenge.org/BONEHENGE/(S(3jfax35541rmmj45ywd5lff4))/Default.aspx web site received 9,804 hits this month
http://www.spyhoplog.blogspot.com/ blog received 101 hits this month.

NC Monofilament Recovery and Recycling Program. We sent off 2 boxes, approximately 40 miles. of recovered monofilament to the recyclers. Terry Greene delivered a new bin to the Estuarium in Washington, (little Washington) NC.
Received a $100 donation from Linda Boyer in little Washington, for this program NCMRRP.

No known Marine Mammal strandings.

More on Cutty and her Neonate in 2009

Back in May we reported seeing 'Cutty' and her neonate in the Newport River estuary here in Beaufort, NC. Here is a little more information about her:
Cutty is one of our most photographed dolphins. She is an experienced mother now with the seventh calf we have seen her with since we started photographing her in July of 1985. (There may have been some we missed) She is an example of one of our summer dolphins, seen in our waters from late April through early October. When Cutty and her calves are not in Beaufort waters, we know they go south to the area around Wilmington, NC. This is confirmed by comparing our dolphin dorsal fin photos with those of researchers from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, NC. and excitedly finding matches.

photos by Keith Rittmaster

July Photo ID and Stranding Stats

4 Days on the water looking for dolphins
3 Sightings of dolphin individuals or pods
10 Dolphins with fins distinct enough to identify as either known or new.
Predictably and fortunately there were no known marine mammal strandings in our area.

Surprise Donation to Help Wild Dolphins

CHANGE FOR CHANGE

Marissa McCabe, an elementary school girl from Wake Forest, NC learned about our program of Monofilament Recycling and Recovery . On her own she created a very catchy 'save the dolphins' campaign. This is the info that she circulated.And, to add to the appeal she made small change purses for people collecting their 'Change for Change'. When they donated their money, they could keep the purses. Here are pictures of both sides of the purse.

Her card reads: "Change for Change". Bottlenose dolphins are getting entangled in discarded fishing line. This is killing and harming these beautiful dolphins off the NC Coast. Please consider donating the change you collect to protect this precious marine wildlife.

What a wonderful, thoughtful and caring act of contributing Marissa did. Thanks, Marissa, maybe you will inspire others.

Bones

We do a lot with bones here. The biggest project is the sperm whale skeleton re-articulation -http://www.bonehenge.org/
But, I am particularly moved by the beauty of many types of bones.From time to time I will post some pictures of various bones. Still deciding if it would be more fun for you to guess whose they were or tell you....hmmmm....
With bone pictures, please don't copy them - email us and we can get a copy to you. http://www.spyhoplog@gmail.com/
Thanks.


photos by Brooks

And just a few more,

Fox Kits

On the Gallants Channel property in Beaufort, NC. near our office and the water are fox dens. Last year they were dug in the bottom of a 3-4 foot rise in the sand, well disguised. This year they are much more right out in the middle of an open area. No idea why. Keith swept the sand smooth in front of the den to confirm that they were currently in use. Fresh footprints appeared. He took some pictures - these are from last year but the kits look pretty much the same this year. The way Keith took the pictures was neat. Early one morning -they are more active dawn and dusk-he set up a digital camera on a tripod set to take a frame every 2 seconds. He went to the office and returned in 2 hours and found these pictures.

On this first picture you can see one of the den entrances behind the kit. He or she is looking at the camera - something new in his familiar environment.

photos by Keith Rittmaster

July Public Interaction

This writer has been traveling and nursing the flu, so after no posts for a month, there is a lot to post.
July Public Interaction

George Olson of NPR/PRE aired an interview with Keith about the Bonehenge Sperm Whale Skeleton project. It was good and here is the link

Keith was interviewed and quoted in the July '09 Outside magazine in their featured article on Dolphin 56 - the 'Beggar'.

Keith gave three presentations at the NC Maritime Museum about Bonehenge.org. and three about NC Dolphins. He also gave six tours of the Bonehenge Barn where we keep and work on the the Sperm Whale bones.

The portable monofilament recycling container spent two days at a fishing tournament on Atlanta Beach, NC in the main tent where everyone gathered. This shot was taken
just before they gathered.
photos by Brooks

Dolphin Photo-ID Update

June 2009 Dolphin Photo-ID Statistics
~8 days on the water
~7 days of sightings
~55 dolphins counted and photographed

We don't know yet how many of the dolphins are ones we know. That process takes time in that the best pictures have to be selected; then the fin photo cropped and printed; then compared with every picture we have of dolphin fins by hand and then if a match is not found we search for a match on the computer with the 'fin scan' program. Possible fin matches are overlaid and assessed in a graphics program. Finally, the resulting data is recorded. There are four people who work on this.