Wild Animals in the Wild!
- Thread starter Dicerorhinus
- Start date
Dicerorhinus
Well-Known Member
Cetaceans are a good suggestion as the Australasian members can have much more of an input. So I suppose I'll go first again.
India
Ganges River Dolphin Platanista gangetica
Saw these at two entirely different sites. The best views were at Chambal where they were swimming alongside and under our boat with lots of dramatic porpoising. Really strange
looking creatures with very prominent teeth. Certainly the most excited I've ever been to see a cetacean.
I'd assume the following species are commonly seen?
UK
Harbour Porpoise
Bottlenose Dolphin
USA
Bottlenose Dolphin
India
Ganges River Dolphin Platanista gangetica
Saw these at two entirely different sites. The best views were at Chambal where they were swimming alongside and under our boat with lots of dramatic porpoising. Really strange
looking creatures with very prominent teeth. Certainly the most excited I've ever been to see a cetacean.
I'd assume the following species are commonly seen?
UK
Harbour Porpoise
Bottlenose Dolphin
USA
Bottlenose Dolphin
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My list is short but contains one of the most memorable moments of my life.
>Humback Whales on a whale watching trip off Hervey Bay. In total we saw two adults and one calf and the swam right around our boat for a good couple of hours.
>On this trip I also saw dolphins and the guide identified them as bottle-nose dolphins and I've always just taken his word for it (I was only 10 at the time).
>Humback Whales on a whale watching trip off Hervey Bay. In total we saw two adults and one calf and the swam right around our boat for a good couple of hours.
>On this trip I also saw dolphins and the guide identified them as bottle-nose dolphins and I've always just taken his word for it (I was only 10 at the time).
nanoboy
Well-Known Member
Humpback whales - Boston, USA
Burrunan dolphins - between Queenscliff and Sorrento (Melbourne) on the ferry [I suspect that only a handful of you have ever seen these, so this is my moment in the sun
]
Bottlenose dolphins (I think that's what they are) - Kangaroo Island
Burrunan dolphins - between Queenscliff and Sorrento (Melbourne) on the ferry [I suspect that only a handful of you have ever seen these, so this is my moment in the sun
]Bottlenose dolphins (I think that's what they are) - Kangaroo Island
Humpback whales - Cape Cod
Minke whale - Cape Cod
Orca - Victoria BC
Minke whale - Victoria BC
Dall's porpoise - Victoria BC
Dusky dolphins - swam with - Kaikoura
Sperm whale - Kaikoura
Dolphin - Auckland - not sure what type (sunfish also - not cetation but seen this day!)
Dolphin near Patmos but not sure what kind
Minke whale - Cape Cod
Orca - Victoria BC
Minke whale - Victoria BC
Dall's porpoise - Victoria BC
Dusky dolphins - swam with - Kaikoura
Sperm whale - Kaikoura
Dolphin - Auckland - not sure what type (sunfish also - not cetation but seen this day!)
Dolphin near Patmos but not sure what kind
Dicerorhinus
Well-Known Member
Are Humpback whales common in Sydney harbour?
They're definitely one of the species I'd like to see one day. Orangeperson has seen a Sperm whale so has anyone seen one of the six species which are larger?
They're definitely one of the species I'd like to see one day. Orangeperson has seen a Sperm whale so has anyone seen one of the six species which are larger?
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
I have only seen a couple of cetacean species in the wild, both in northern New Zealand:
-Short-beaked Common Dolphins (on the ferry to Great Barrier Island).
-Orca (this was pretty awesome, a pod surrounded our 3-4m dinghy and spent a good ten minutes nearby while we were fishing).
Looks like I need to book a whale-watching tour near Auckland or Kaikoura to bump up this list. There was a Humpback Whale near the city I live in at the end of last week, but I didn't get a chance to go look for it (Sightseers get whale of a time in city | Stuff.co.nz).
The closest I have been to a wild whale was tagging a dead Pilot Whale for DoC, it was believed to have stranded and died on Farewell Spit (top of South Island) and then been washed out to sea, before beaching again on the Manawatu Coast (North Island), about 200km east. I've attached a photo, but the whale is kind of covered in sand (at least this largely disguised the smell)
-Short-beaked Common Dolphins (on the ferry to Great Barrier Island).
-Orca (this was pretty awesome, a pod surrounded our 3-4m dinghy and spent a good ten minutes nearby while we were fishing).
Looks like I need to book a whale-watching tour near Auckland or Kaikoura to bump up this list. There was a Humpback Whale near the city I live in at the end of last week, but I didn't get a chance to go look for it (Sightseers get whale of a time in city | Stuff.co.nz).
The closest I have been to a wild whale was tagging a dead Pilot Whale for DoC, it was believed to have stranded and died on Farewell Spit (top of South Island) and then been washed out to sea, before beaching again on the Manawatu Coast (North Island), about 200km east. I've attached a photo, but the whale is kind of covered in sand (at least this largely disguised the smell)
Attachments
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
I didn't count it in mine. In theory, if you did include it, you would then be able to include roadkill, museum specimens, etc.
No, but a beached whale which is alive when you spot it - but doomed - does count.
No. There have been a couple of ocassions ove rthe last few decades when one or a pair will swim in for a few days and then swim back out again.
If we're talking about swimming with them, then I swam with both the Spinner Dolphins and the Humpbacks in Niue.Orangeperson said:
Hix
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
Agree, but you should really help un-doom it if possible before adding it to your list.
My rule is: you have seen a species if you have seen a live individual of the species in the flesh (not on TV or through live video feed online or in zoo), regardless of where (captive/wild) or how good the view was.
Clearly there are different rules on this, and I presume birding organisations, etc, have official rules (which rule out captive individuals, for example).
Along with various dolphin sightings I haven't been able to pin down to a species, I have seen:
Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) - Northern coastline of the Isle of Skye, near Staffin - 2010
Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) - Numerous locations on Scottish and Northumberland coastline over the years.
Risso's Dolphin (Grampus griseus) - Numerous locations on NW Scottish coastline over the years.
Shortbeaked Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) - two definite sightings: on ferry between Mallaig and Armadale (Skye) in 2010, in Firth of Clyde near northern coast of Isle of Arran in 2011.
Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) - Numerous occasions in the waters around the Isle of Skye.
Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) - one sighting of a living beached whale, which died shortly after I arrived, at Beadnell in 2010. One brief sighting off the southwest coast of Skye in 2001.
And the sighting with which I am most pleased.... Cuvier's Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris) - one sighting when on a boat off the coast of Skye, sailing from Elgol to Loch Coruisk, in 1999.
Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) - Northern coastline of the Isle of Skye, near Staffin - 2010
Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) - Numerous locations on Scottish and Northumberland coastline over the years.
Risso's Dolphin (Grampus griseus) - Numerous locations on NW Scottish coastline over the years.
Shortbeaked Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) - two definite sightings: on ferry between Mallaig and Armadale (Skye) in 2010, in Firth of Clyde near northern coast of Isle of Arran in 2011.
Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) - Numerous occasions in the waters around the Isle of Skye.
Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) - one sighting of a living beached whale, which died shortly after I arrived, at Beadnell in 2010. One brief sighting off the southwest coast of Skye in 2001.
And the sighting with which I am most pleased.... Cuvier's Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris) - one sighting when on a boat off the coast of Skye, sailing from Elgol to Loch Coruisk, in 1999.
California
Blue whale
Grey whale
Humpback whale
Long-beaked Common dolphin
Pacific bottlenose dolphin
Risso's dolphin
Northern Right Whale dolphin
Pacific white-sided dolphin
Puget Sound
Minke whale
Alaska
Harbor porpoise
Florida
Atlantic bottlenose dolphin
South Africa
Southern right whale
Blue whale
Grey whale
Humpback whale
Long-beaked Common dolphin
Pacific bottlenose dolphin
Risso's dolphin
Northern Right Whale dolphin
Pacific white-sided dolphin
Puget Sound
Minke whale
Alaska
Harbor porpoise
Florida
Atlantic bottlenose dolphin
South Africa
Southern right whale
New species added that I'd forgotten until I saw it in another thread, should keep a list
Humpback whales - Cape Cod
Minke whale - Cape Cod
Orca - Victoria BC
Minke whale - Victoria BC
Dall's porpoise - Victoria BC
Dusky dolphins - swam with - Kaikoura
Sperm whale - Kaikoura
Dolphin - Auckland - not sure what type (sunfish also - not cetation but seen this day!)
Bryde's whale - Auckland
Dolphin near Patmos but not sure what kind
Humpback whales - Cape Cod
Minke whale - Cape Cod
Orca - Victoria BC
Minke whale - Victoria BC
Dall's porpoise - Victoria BC
Dusky dolphins - swam with - Kaikoura
Sperm whale - Kaikoura
Dolphin - Auckland - not sure what type (sunfish also - not cetation but seen this day!)
Bryde's whale - Auckland
Dolphin near Patmos but not sure what kind
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