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.