South Coast Cetaceans | Educational research centre

South Coast Cetaceans

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24.01.2022 The shallow seagrass meadows of Princess Royal Harbour are favoured foraging grounds for bottlenose dolphins, especially for females with young calves. In the Albany harbours, dolphins use a variety of foraging strategies. Echolocation or sonar is used to hunt fish, but as can be seen in this clip of Nikki and her 3 week old calf, vision may be quite important too. Video by Nikki Farmer, taken from the ANZAC jetty

20.01.2022 It is becoming clear from our research that Princess Royal Harbour is an important area for bottlenose dolphins. It is not often that we see whales like these humpbacks in this busy waterway though! This pair were resting near the old cannery when we first spotted them. They made a leisurely loop past the woodchip berth and Quaranup before heading back into King George Sound to resume their migration, heading north to the warm waters of the Kimberly.

13.01.2022 Whales contributing to renewable energy technology - a definite win-win situation!

09.01.2022 Why do we see more Southern Rights in some seasons? Site fidelity is known to be strong in this species thanks to long term research in areas like the Head of the Bight. Individuals return to the same location year after year to breed. Female southern right whales calve every three to four years. The triennial calving cycle causes peaks in numbers of the primary breeding group every three years. Our understanding of site fidelity is a result of our ability to identify indiv...idual southern right whales by their cream-coloured callosities. These look like stones piled in patterns on the whale’s head. The pattern they form is unique on every right whale and does not change over the whale’s lifetime. This makes callosity patterns a useful tool in our research which aims to learn more about the number of southern right whales that visit our coast, and to identify which areas on the south coast are important for the most endangered of our visiting whale species. Some individuals also have white markings on the body like the calf pictured. The movements of this little one have been quite easy to follow thanks to it’s distinctive markings. Our volunteers have photographed it at Muttonbird, Nanarup and Two People’s Bay in recent weeks. Our whale watch operators have years of experience on the water, and think that poor visibility in high flow also affects the distribution of southern rights.

07.01.2022 Another way we can all contribute to understanding cetacean species on the south coast. It’s a fantastic app.

06.01.2022 We celebrated the first day of spring on the south coast with driving rain and a few showers of hail for variety. It was well worth the soaking to record 3 groups of southern right whales in the Sound, including this pair in Attaturk Channel interacting with some of the local bottlenose dolphins.

02.01.2022 It's always a special occasion to encounter Australian sea lions on our surveys. Sea lions spend most of their time on offshore islands, but we often have the pleasure of observing them foraging in our harbours. We were particularly pleased to have the opportunity to observe this individual, as it has a significant injury to it's mouth and is missing an eye. Sea lions have excellent recuperative abilities, and despite these injuries, this one has good body condition and app...eared to be foraging successfully. Having established this, we left him to continue his fishing expedition in peace. Less than 3000 Australian sea lions occupy breeding colonies on offshore islands on the south coast. The colonies are home to generations of sea lions, which do not migrate from their chosen breeding grounds. Once a colony is established it becomes a natal island, with the females using it as a base to breed and fish. Mothers, aunts, grandmothers and sisters all stay at the one place with bull sea lions moving from colony to colony. If you encounter a seal or sea lion on the water, remember to give them space and remain 100m away in a boat, 50m if you are in the water. Most importantly, enjoy the fact that we share our waters with the rarest sea lion species on earth, and the only one to occur solely in Australia. Photos taken under research license by Kirsty Alexander. Video taken by research assistant Tylah Faulkner-Pearce