Our intern Claudia Afeltra is helping our cetaceans off the coast of Wales by putting together information about all individuals that have been spotted and photographed. Sometimes animals are seen enough to learn their stories.
Claudia was excited to share the story of one of her dolphins, Tigger, who her team thought had died. Tigger was first spotted in 2010 with his mother Chris. Tigger remained with his mother for about seven years. This is very unusual for bottlenose dolphins. Their calves don’t normally stay with them for so long. However Chris’ other calf also stayed with her for a similar length of time suggesting that she was likely a great caregiver to her young.
When Tigger left his mother, he joined a group of young, all-male juveniles. Their pod included other known dolphins: Lumpy, Frodo, Dumbledore and Brimstone. For a while the team assumed Tigger had either moved or passed away since he wasn’t seen with his usual pod for a number of years. But Claudia got in touch with us recently to let us know that Tigger had been spotted in September with a different group of dolphins, making a grand reappearance in New Quay. This was very exciting for the team as one of their most well-known dolphins was still thriving.
This highlights the importance of Claudia’s work, using fins to ID and keep track of dolphins. With better knowledge of where they go and how long they live, we have more evidence to use to help protect them.
See more of Claudia’s research as a PTES intern: