It was a beautiful morning in October when the news went out that the dolphins were back. Dick greeted me with the news as soon as I arrived on the pier. In fact, they were on both sides of the Shorncliffe pier, where they stayed for about half an hour before making their way to the entrance of Cabbage Tree Creek. It’s possible that their intention was to check out the trawlers which had returned from fishing in the bay during the night and, as is always the case when the dolphins are around, their presence gave me a happy feeling, a sense of wonder at seeing them in their element in the wild.
The dolphins were chasing mullet and other fish in the Bay and swimming as a group, in harmony with each other. They were free! They enjoyed “freedom”, a state of being which is as important for their quality of life as it is for ours.
As I looked at the theatre playing out right in front of us, I again realised how little I know about these beautiful creatures. Like many visitors to Southern Queensland, I have been on whale and dolphin sightseeing boats on Moreton Bay and elsewhere and I have always thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the commentary of the boat crews. They provide us with facts and explanations, however, even after absorbing what they tell us, I still have plenty more questions, such as, for example, what are the different dolphin species which live here in Moreton Bay and how do dolphins differ from porpoises.
Dolphins are marine mammals and that means that they are different from fish. This fact makes them of special interest to me. Being mammals, they come up for air, they have lungs, they are warm-blooded and they nurse their young. I’ve seen that they are playful, inquisitive and clever but there’s so much more I would like to know about them, which has led me to doing some searches on the internet. The result of these searches is that I have come up with some fascinating information. Please note, however, that I have not approached this in the way a scientist would. The information which I have collected may not be accurate. This is only a blog post, not a properly researched scientific paper.
To prove this point, the first time I googled “Dolphins in Moreton Bay”, most of the references that came up were for “The Dolphins”, the very popular Moreton Bay rugby league football team. Interesting as this was, it was not what I was looking for. More relevant was the informative website, “Dolphin Research Australia”, a “charitable grass-roots marine conservation organisation”. On this site and in other similar websites it was explained that Bottlenose dolphins were the most common species spotted in Moreton Bay (possibly numbering around 500), followed by the less common Australian Humpback dolphins.
Bottlenose dolphins are much bigger and heavier than I thought. They can grow to as much as 2.5m in length and can weigh between 150 and 200 kg. Dolphins make a range of sounds, such as whistles, burst-pulsed sounds and clicks, and Bottlenose dolphins have whistles that are unique to each individual. They remember these whistles and are therefore able to communicate with each other. The dolphins’ clicks are for echolocation.
On the internet there are many mentions of dolphins interacting with humans. These include reports of dolphins joining scuba divers, of them helping fishermen to catch fish, of helping swimmers in distress at sea and even reports of dolphins being trained by the US navy to carry out certain tasks. Dolphins also interact with other animals. They have, for example, been seen supporting whales who were trapped in shallow water.
In fact, some scientists believe that dolphins are so highly intelligent that they should be seen as “non-human persons” and should have their own specific rights. Some countries such as India, Hungary, Chile and Costa Rica have, in fact, declared that dolphins should not be held captive for entertainment or be killed.
I also attempted to learn a little more about porpoises, which are smaller than dolphins, have shorter beaks and are a different species altogether, with different behaviour. Although porpoises are said to prefer coastal habitats, I have not been able to find out if they are present here in Moreton Bay.
My own experience with dolphins goes back exactly 70 years. I wrote about this in post 8 – “Ol’ Man River”:
“We had just made a voyage from Rotterdam to New Orleans and were about to enter the Mississippi River. I was 18 years old at the time and the voyage had taken almost 16 days on our old, small cargo ship. We had plodded on, day after day, mile after mile, from the North Sea into the Atlantic Ocean and on to America.
Half-way, somewhere near the Azores Islands, we had experienced a massive storm, which caused the ship to be tossed around in very heavy seas. Water sloshed over the decks and walking was virtually impossible, even with ropes attached. The kitchen had to be locked up and everything had to be tied down.
After the storm had passed, a week or so later, we had arrived at the entrance of the Mississippi River. It is a moment I have never forgotten. Pods of dolphins were swimming alongside, and in front of, the ship, as if they wanted to guide us in. I felt as though all my dreams had come true. I had finally arrived in America! Our ship slowly entered the “Ol’ Man River” that I had seen in the movies (the musical “Showboat”).
I also remember that 10 years or so later, in the 1960s, we watched the popular American TV series “Flipper”, which featured a dolphin who interacted with a family to help solve crimes and catch perpetrators. I have since discovered that this “Flipper” was also a Bottlenose dolphin.
In the 1970s, when my children from my first marriage, Mark and Michelle, were young and we lived in New South Wales, we travelled to the Gold Coast to visit the dolphinarium in Marineland and later, in the 1980s, Sue and I visited Sea World, also on the Gold Coast, with our children, Greg and Nikki. On both visits the children were able to watch a spectacular show and feed the dolphins. Since then, however, much has changed.
Around the world many dolphinariums have closed, due to growing concern for animal welfare, and other dolphinariums have changed their routines. The Sea World marine park on the Gold Coast does still have dolphins but they no longer perform in the type of shows our children used to watch. Some of the dolphins now kept by Sea World were rescued after having become entangled in fishing lines.
Bottlenose dolphins living in the ocean have “intricate social networks” and are able to swim more than 100 kilometres per day. They navigate by “echolocation” and, when confined to small areas, the echoes bounce off the walls and are said to drive them mad. Dolphins need space to thrive and survive.
Finally, just a quick word about Orcas, the largest dolphin species. They grow to 9.5m and weigh up to 6 tonnes. Sue and I saw many of these in the distance in Alaska, well away from our cruise ship. They are known to be highly intelligent and can travel 160 km in a day. I have read that there are still some orcas in captivity, but not in Australia, as far as I know.
I think that the dolphins in Moreton Bay are in a happy place. They are free. They have room to move and they have plenty of food. We, the early morning walkers, are in a happy place too. Like the dolphins, we are very lucky to be free, lucky to have the freedom to enjoy our beautiful, quiet corner of Queensland, Australia.
O.P.
P.S. For our next post on Sunday, 19 January, Sue has written a beautiful story about our journey through New England in the “fall” (autumn) of 2007.