Solitary dolphins & whales - a few case histories

There are many solitary dolphins and whales worldwide, one of the most famous is Fungie, a mature male bottlenose dolphin who has been resident in Dingle Bay, Ireland since early 1984. He is the longest standing interactive solitary dolphin in the world - having now reached middle age! Dingle Harbour lighthouse keeper, Paddy Ferriter, first began watching the lone wild dolphin escort the towns' fishing boats to and from port. After remaining in the area for so long now, the dolphins strong physical condition would at least indicate Dingle is a welcoming home with not too many natural dangers. From observation of scarring on his body scarring it would appear that Fungie still frequently encounters other whales, dolphins or porpoises, proving perhaps he is neither a true hermit nor outcast from his own kind, but rather that he is simply content with his current circumstances.

In the early 1990s, a male bottlenose dolphin visited the area of Amble in Northumberland. He was quickly nicknamed Freddie by the locals and initially was quite wary of boats and humans. However over the months as people started interacting with this animal and after being rescued from entanglement in fishing line, his trust in humans began to grow. Within months his behaviour changed, and he would immediately swim over to people when they entered the water. The locals grew to love him as he continued increasing revenue in the area with people flocking to see him from all over the UK and Europe. Freddie was a large dolphin and at times true to his kind, was very energetic and boisterous. However Freddie was badly hit by a boat rumoured to be a police launch that simply reversed too quickly not taking into account the proximity of the dolphin, and shortly afterwards the dolphin disappeared from the area. The last sighting of him was six weeks later further down the east coast but Freddie was never seen again, we can only hope he was reunited with a pod of dolphins and returned with them to the open ocean.

An unusual solitary cetacean case was one involving a juvenile male killer whale named Luna, residing in and around Nootka Sound on the west side of Vancouver Island for several years. It is rare for a resident killer whale, especially a young whale, to stray from its group and like most solitary animals, this whale soon started playing with boats. The 1.8-tonne creature proved an instant hit with tourists, and his exploits soon gained attention in the world media. Over the years he became quite fixated with boats which sadly was to be his downfall. In March 2006, he was killed in a tragic accident, after being hit by a tugboat, when he became caught in the propellers and died instantly. Never before had a wild animal become so taken by humans and bonded with them in the way Luna did and he is remembered fondly and missed by all who were touched by the presence of this magnificent animal.

No one can explain for certain why some of these creatures suddenly take to a solitary way of life. Watching solitary dolphins and whales from the shoreline doesn't create a problem for these animals, it is when people start entering the water, wanting to get closer to them that problems occur.

Dolphins like Fungie or Freddie, and most recently animals like Georges (pictured below) have become habituated and tame, losing their natural fear of man and his world. They are not aware of dangers from propellers and Luna is not the first and sadly will probably not be the last, animal to be killed in this way.

images (c) Alma Fakhre, G Parsons