Dear Marmam and ECS members,
We hope you all keep being well, healthy and busy with interesting projects.
/*You may wish to watch our new, ~4.5 min video with aerial and
underwater views as well as many photos from the amazing mixed-species
dolphin society in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece that we discovered and
study since 1995.*/
You are free to share the video in your social media, if you wish:
https://youtu.be/1lUhjckyOYg <https://youtu.be/1lUhjckyOYg>
*Abstract:* Amazing things happen in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece! The
mixed-species society of its dolphins is world-wide unique in many ways.
Since 1995 the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute has been conducting
surveys to study these dolphins and made fantastic discoveries.
The Gulf of Corinth is the only place in the world, where striped
dolphins live in a semi-enclosed gulf, isolated from larger seas or
oceans! Together with common dolphins and Risso's dolphins, they form a
permanent mixed-species dolphin society. Such a permanent symbiosis has
never been observed anywhere else in the world. Given the genetic
distances among the three species, it is like if humans lived in a
mixed-species society with chimpanzees and gorillas!
During a recent survey in 2023 new amazing observations were made: 1) We
re-sighted the same individual of Risso's dolphin 26 years after its
first observation in 1997, 2) We recorded a unique striped dolphin with
thumbs on both its pectoral fins, 3) A female common dolphin had adopted
or kidnapped a striped dolphin newborn and was lactating it.
The Gulf of Corinth is an IMMA (Important Marine Mammal Area at the
global scale) and a Natura2000 area. Nevertheless, no conservation
measures have been taken so far and such an isolated dolphin society is
very fragile to environmental changes and human activities.
We wish to thank for their support:
The PlasticHeal Consortium (EC funded) - https://www.plasticheal.eu/en
OceanCare (Switzerland) - https://www.oceancare.org
If you like this video, you may also watch our two previous short videos
on Cuvier's beaked whales, sperm whales and striped dolphins from the
area of the Hellenic Trench IMMA. The videos are available at the
following Youtube links:
*A sperm whale family in action, Hellenic Trench, Greece (~3 min)*
https://youtu.be/nUK_6bkvHM8 <https://youtu.be/nUK_6bkvHM8>
*Hellenic Trench, Surveys 2019-2020 (~3 min)*
https://youtu.be/K3bkhu4dR3Q <https://youtu.be/K3bkhu4dR3Q>
Best wishes,
Alexandros
--
__________________________________________________________
Dr. Alexandros Frantzis
Scientific director
Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute
Terpsichoris 21
16671 Vouliagmeni,
GREECE
Tel.: +30-210-8960108
e-mail:afrant...@otenet.gr
website:http://www.pelagosinstitute.gr
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyp-eiteK0GBb0Lr5psk0g
__________________________________________________________
--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
_______________________________________________
MARMAM mailing list
MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca
https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
