Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) in Cornwall

This species has many common names in different languages throughout its distribution. In English, it is also known as: bottle-nosed dolphin, Atlantic (or Pacific) bottlenose dolphin and cowfish.

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncates)
photograph by Jayne Herbert

"Bottlenose" refers to its short beak, which is usually only 7-8cm long. Its specific name "truncatus" also refers to its abbreviated snout, and it was described as new to science under this name by Colonel George Montagu from an individual specimen that was stranded in the River Dart, Devon, in 1815.

Family group of Bottlenose dolphins
off the Helford River
photograph by Colin Speedie

It is a very playful species and has been a favourite performer in American dolphinaria, where it was known as a common porpoise. In the wild they will surf (often joining humans in the sport), follow boats, "bow-ride" and play with ropes, fish, seaweed and feathers. Both on the Welsh and Cornish coasts, in the 1960s a dolphin called Beaky became legendary for his friendliness, and Lyall Watson recounts how he “took to towing boats around harbours, moving anchors, disputing the ownership of buoys, playing with and imitating swimmers and water skiers, and eventually abducting two women and a child.”

These animals live in permanent family groups and although the males leave to mate they do rejoin the group. Calves are nursed for up to 18 months and may stay with their mother for three years.

Benty left hand side view
photograph by Colin Speedie

Although they have been recorded at considerable depths and well offshore, the bottlenose dolphin is essentially a coastal species. There are thought to be inshore and offshore forms, and a large group has been filmed 60m from the nearest coast in the Celtic Sea, so it is likely that both inshore and offshore forms exist in West Country waters. Occasional sudden upsurges in numbers along the coast suggest that the offshore animals make infrequent visits to their coastal cousins, making their movements easier to monitor. Studies this decade identifying 44 individuals showed that a group of "Cornish" dolphins ranged as far north as Wales and east as Dorset, usually moving back southwards in the winter months. Nick Tregenza does not think that a seasonal pattern can be substantiated from the study, which barely demonstrates continuing contact with Wales, although such contact doesn’t seem unreasonable.

Benty - left hand view
photograph by Colin Speedie

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