Bottlenose dolphins have been spotted playing with a lone harbour porpoise off the coast of Cornwall, a wildlife charity has revealed.
Whale and dolphin charity ORCA documented two separate sightings of the ‘very unusual marine pairing’, BBC reports.
Experts suspect the porpoise has joined the dolphins’ pod, the group in which they travel, hunt and socialise.
ORCA’s head of Science & Conservation said the pairing is a ‘really rare event’ because dolphins tend to ‘aggressively attack’ porpoises.
Bottlenose dolphins have been spotted playing with a lone harbour porpoise off the coast of Cornwall, a wildlife charity has revealed (pictured)
Whale and dolphin charity ORCA documented two separate sightings of the ‘very unusual marine pairing’ (pictured). Experts suspect the porpoise has joined the dolphins’ pod, the group in which they travel, hunt and socialise
Terry Carne, an ORCA marine mammal surveyor, told the broadcaster that he saw the dolphins and the porpoise ‘enjoying acrobatic games’ together between Newquay and St Ives.
He initially thought the porpoise was trying to escape the dolphins, assuming they had attacked it.
‘But actually what I saw was the porpoise breaching with the dolphins, initially forward leaps, before seeing it jump high in the air,’ he recalled.
Lucy Babey, ORCA’s head of Science & Conservation, added that porpoises tend to ‘steer clear of dolphins’ because of their aggressive behaviours.
She said dolphins like to play with porpoises ‘like a football’.
ORCA has urged marine wildlife enthusiasts in Cornwall to look out for the trio and see if they continue to stay together (pictured). The charity wants marine enthusiasts to download its OceanWatchers app and log any future sightings
ORCA has urged marine wildlife enthusiasts in Cornwall to look out for the trio and see if they continue to stay together.
The charity wants marine enthusiasts to download its OceanWatchers app and log any future sightings.
Experts say marine watchers can differentiate between dolphins and porpoises by the size of their beaks.
Dolphins have large, thick beaks, whereas as harbour porpoises have very small beaks.
