Dead dolphin identified

ON New Year’s Day a group of surfers noticed a bottlenose dolphin floating on the surf near a rocky outcrop at Wlozkasbaken, north of Swakopmund.

It was still alive but bleeding from the mouth. Shortly after the surfers noticed the animal, it died and so they brought it to shore.

The following day the Namibian Dolphin Project (NDP) which coordinates the Strandings Network for the central coast area, went out from Walvis Bay to recover the carcass and try to establish the cause of death.

The animal had recognisable marks on the trailing edge of its dorsal fin and was identified as individual ‘T-103’ from the NDP catalogue of all identified bottlenose dolphins in Namibia (currently consisting of only 115 identified since 2008).

T-103 was first identified in 2011 and has been seen in Walvis Bay (where the majority of research has been carried out on the population) several times since then. According to a statement issued by the experts Simon Elwen and Daniela Maldini of the NDP, the animal was a mature male bottlenose in good body condition weighing an estimated 400kg. The animal had no external signs of injury or disease.

“NDP staff conducted a complete necropsy on the animal to determine possible causes of death. This is always very difficult to do and the only visually obvious clue was froth in the trachea and lungs. This could have been caused by drowning, pneumonia or the presence of bacteria in the lungs, but none of these could be confirmed,” the statement read. Several samples of the major organs and a complete skeleton were retained by the NDP for further examination.

“The loss of a mature male from such a small population is always of concern,” said the statement. The bottlenose dolphin population, which inhabits the very near-shore waters of the central coast of Namibia, is one of the smallest populations of any mammal in the country, numbering just over 100 individuals. This small population has to compete for food and space resources with fishermen, seals, sharks, and a number of human activities which are increasingly encroaching on their habitat, especially in the central Walvis Bay-Swakopmund area.

Beach users are encouraged to report any other live or dead animals to the strandings hotline on 081 687 6461

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