A heartbreaking video has emerged showing a female dolphin grieving for her dead calf, swimming alongside it while surrounded by a pod of 14 other dolphins offering their support.
The sad news was shared by Geographe Marine Research, an Australian conservation and research organisation that monitors dolphin populations along the coast of Western Australia. The group had been tracking Fraggle, a female dolphin who gave birth to a calf two weeks earlier.
Winter in Australia falls during this period of the year, and researchers already knew survival for a newborn would be uncertain in such conditions. Fraggle has lost four calves in total before this one, and the team had been hoping she would finally succeed.
The calf was showing signs of rapid breathing, known as tachypnea, which gave little hope for its survival, and researchers had been expecting the worst for some time. It is common for dolphins to swim while carrying their dead calves, in what resembles a mourning ritual.
A similar case was recorded in Greece, where a bottlenose dolphin mother was seen grieving over her dead calf in the Amvrakikos Gulf, with experts issuing guidance on how the public should respond to such sightings. The mourning period can last for days, until the mother eventually lets the calf go and returns to searching for food.
The events took place in the Leschenault Estuary, near Bunbury in Western Australia, an area home to a small dolphin population where survival rates for newborns are already very low.
What makes the scene even more moving is that Fraggle was not alone during this difficult moment. Trailing a little behind her, discreetly but steadily, 14 dolphins swam alongside her, a sign of the strong bonds these highly intelligent animals form with one another.
The moment was captured on drone footage by Geographe Marine Research.
With information from Geographe Marine Research
Ask me anything
Explore related questions
