{"id":154,"date":"2012-09-14T12:12:05","date_gmt":"2012-09-14T11:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/?p=154"},"modified":"2012-09-14T12:12:16","modified_gmt":"2012-09-14T11:12:16","slug":"154","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/2012\/09\/14\/154\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog 7: Risso\u2019s Dolphin Necropsy 21\/07\/2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zanzibar Humpback Whale Research Project 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blog 7: Risso\u2019s Dolphin Necropsy 21\/07\/2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday the 21st<\/sup> of July was the start of Ramadhan in Zanzibar which, coupled with a rough sea, resulted in the project team enjoying a quiet day off. We used this precious down-time to get some computer based project work done and to do some washing. After a fairly relaxing morning, the team received a call from Pandu (one of our local contacts) who informed us a by-caught dolphin had been landed in our neighbouring village, Kizimkazi-Mkunguni. After quick preparations to bring the necropsy kit and data forms together we were driven straight to Mkunguni to take photos and collect samples from the dolphin.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cdolphin\u201d found by fishermen from Kizimkazi-Mkunguni<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0However, when we arrived, to our surprise we discovered it wasn\u2019t a bottlenose or humpback dolphin but a species we don\u2019t normally see in the waters around southern Zanzibar. We were relieved when we found out the fishers found it dead and floating in the water meaning it was not another by-caught dolphin. At first glance, Kyla thought it might be a pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata<\/em>) or melon-headed whale (Peponocephala electra<\/em>) based on the body size, shape and colouration but we were baffled as some features, such as the very tall dorsal fin and the teeth (or lack thereof!) didn\u2019t seem right. Of course, after sending photos to the project leader Dr Per Berggrenat Newcastle, he suggested it might be a Risso\u2019s dolphin calf; Risso\u2019s dolphins (Grampus griseus<\/em>) are very scratched resulting in a greyish colouration but a calf\/juvenile is still quite dark and Risso\u2019s dolphins have very few teeth.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Kristin<\/a><\/p>\n

Kristin and Kyla looking for the teeth\u2026and only finding two tiny ones at the front!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0As soon as we arrived at the fish market at the beach in Mkunguni we started taking photos, measurements and collected tissue samples of the dolphin. As mentioned above, no teeth could be seen initially; we thought it might be an older animal with very worn teeth, but on close inspection we found two very small teeth at the front of the jaw. So, a section of the jaw bone with the two teeth was removed as a sample. The cause of death was not identifiable as there were no external signs such as lacerations, or injury from fishing gear, however, the animal looked under nourished. We were not able to conduct a complete necropsy on the animal but we collected the stomach contents for possible dietary analyses.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Yunusu,<\/a><\/p>\n

Yunusu, a friend of the project, helping us collect samples<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Members<\/a><\/p>\n

Members of the research team checking out the Risso\u2019s calf with fishers from Mkunguni watching with curiosity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One thing we didn\u2019t think about when we collected the bucket of guts to take back with us was the smell we\u2019d have to endure on the drive back to Kizimkazi-Dimbani! We ended up driving the entire way with back of the car open, much to the amusement of all the locals. All in all, it was a very unexpected but interesting day!<\/p>\n

Photographs \u00a9 Zanzibar Humpback whale Project<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zanzibar Humpback Whale Research Project 2012 Blog 7: Risso\u2019s Dolphin Necropsy 21\/07\/2012 Saturday the 21st of July was the start of Ramadhan in Zanzibar which, coupled with a rough sea, resulted in the project team enjoying a quiet day off. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4944,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zanzibarhumpbackwhaleproject"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4944"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions\/162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/marinescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}