Having survived a night of sleeping on compacted sand ‑ sleeping bags do not give much cushioning ‑ we spend the morning watching and trying to photograph the dolphins as they come fairly close in, and also watching some fishermen. In one small boat there were two of them plus a dog. One man was in charge of the oars, the other had two lines baited with a fish about 15 cm long and a weight inside. The dog watched patiently from the bows. The lines were lowered and moved slowly on or near the bottom, then hauled in, often with an octopus attached.
In the dolphin study mentioned previously, there was an interesting account of a dolphin that had caught an octopus. The octopus reached with its arms up to the dolphin's blowhole, effectively suffocating it. The dolphin was obviously in distress but eventually dislodged the octopus by hitting it hard against the water surface. Local fishermen had told the researchers that the dolphins did not prey on octopus, because the octopus would drown them. I doubt if that dolphin tried it again!
No comments:
Post a Comment