JULY 2022

At Kuda Huraa this month, we held 12 cruises and recorded totals of: 720 Spinners, 150 Risso’s, and 100 Pantropic-Spotted dolphins. From the photographs we took on each trip, we were able to confirm the resightings of three known individuals already in our database.

At Landaa, we sighted 195 Spinners and five Bottlenose across 11 excursions, in encounters averaging 15 minutes duration. From our ID photos:
– Spinners – two added to the database; five confirmed resightings.
– Bottlenose – one new individual added; one confirmed resighting.

AUGUST

At Kuda Huraa this month, we recorded a total of 770 Spinners, added one new dolphin to our database (SL256, Slater), and confirmed resightings of four known individuals (Iron, Sharpie, Doctor, Snow).

We are now sharing the Kuda Huraa data with our Reefscapers colleagues at Sheraton (also in Kaafu Atoll) to merge our combined efforts into a single database, usable by both teams.

At Landaa, we recorded 250 Spinners, seven Bottlenose, and five Risso’s (first time for Risso’s at Landaa) in encounters lasting from five to 30 minutes duration. We held seven guest excursions; the weather was variable, and the waves were mostly choppy.
From our ID photos, we added one new Risso’s and four new Spinners to our database, and confirmed two Spinner resightings (Sky and Akil).

SEPTEMBER

At Kuda Huraa this month, we recorded an impressive 865 Spinners across 11 guest excursions. From our ID photographs, we added one new uniquely identified Spinner (‘Bobby’ SL115) and confirmed the resightings of four known individuals from our database.

At Landaa, we held nine excursions and sighted 360 Spinners, in encounters lasting 25-35 minutes. We were able to add three new Spinners to our database, and confirmed four resightings.

In addition, we were also lucky to spot three Bottlenose dolphins while working on the reef. Interestingly, two of these were already known to us from a previous recorded sighting of the same pair in November 2021 (‘Boreas’ TT0112, and ‘Helios’ TT011).

OCTOBER 2022

At Kuda Huraa this month, we enjoyed 12 Dolphin Cruises, accompanied by 104 Resort guests. We recorded sightings of 1075 Spinners, and confirmed resightings of seven known individuals (including ‘Snow’ [SL078]).

At Landaa, during six Dolphin Cruises we sighted 80 Spinners plus 11 Bottlenose, in encounters lasting an average of 15 minutes.

NOVEMBER

At Kuda Huraa this month, we recorded 1710 Spinners, and thanks to some lovely calm ocean days, we were able to add an impressive 30 new sightings to our database, and confirm the identity of six new individuals. We were also pleased to spot ‘Snow’ (SL078) on multiple occasions.

At Landaa, we sighted 400 Spinners in encounters lasting an average of 30 minutes, and added 2 new individuals to our database (along with 3 confirmed resightings). Also, we were lucky to encounter a small pod of Bottlenose dolphins close to our House Reef, where we interestingly resighted ‘Boreas’ (TT0112) each day for three consecutive days. One new Bottlenose was also added to our database.

DECEMBER

At Kuda Huraa during December we held ten excursions for a total of 60 guests, and recorded 1215 Spinners plus 10 false killer whales. Due to the calm sea conditions and good weather, we were able to take plenty of quality photos that resulted in six new Spinners being uniquely identified and added to our database.

At Landaa this month we sighted 575 Spinners across 11 trips in encounters averaging 23 minutes. We were also lucky to have a rare sighting of a sperm whale (spotted at the edge of the atoll between Voavah and Landaa). From our photographs, we added ten new Spinners to our database, and confirmed a further seven resightings

ANNUAL FACTS & FIGURES FOR 2022

Kuda Huraa’s stats from 2022 include:

• Spinner dolphins: 18 new individuals, plus 116 resightings
• Bottlenose dolphins: 15 new individuals
• Pilot whales: five new individuals, plus one resighting of “Margo” [GM015]. A total of four pilot whales have now been resighted, indicating a local resident pod
• Risso’s dolphins: two new individuals
• The Reefscapers teams have submitted a scientific research paper discussing our sightings of “Snow” (SL078). If successfully published, it will become the first paper to use our Dolphin ID data set, and a first for Reefscapers on Cetaceans!

 Landaa’s totals for 2022 include:

• 4500 Cetaceans recorded over the 96 dolphin trips
• Spinner dolphins made up 99% of total Cetaceans, with rarer sightings of Bottlenose, Risso’s, Short fin pilot whales, and one Sperm whale

Dolphin Diary 2023

JANUARY 2023

At Kuda Huraa, we recorded 780 Spinners over 13 trips, and from our ID photos we were able to uniquely identify two new individuals, namely ‘Tiger’ (SL264) and ‘Viv’ (SL265).

At Landaa, we sighted 500 Spinners across nine excursions, in encounters lasting an average of 30 minutes. From our photographs, we were able to add two new unique Spinners to our database, and confirmed the resightings of three individuals.

FEBRUARY

At Kuda Huraa, we recorded 1000 Spinners over 13 trips, and from our ID photos we added 12 new uniquely identified individuals to our database. We recorded an increase in calves (32 individuals), confirming the New Year to be a popular birthing period for this species. Recent anecdotal reports of Shortfin pilot whale sightings close to the Resort remain unconfirmed by our team.

At Landaa, we sighted 270 Spinners across the eight dolphin cruises, in encounters lasting an average of 20 minutes. From our photo ID analysis, we added seven new individuals to our database, and confirmed resightings of six known individuals.
During February, we went back through our records on Google Earth, dating back to 2014. We consolidated the database, ensuring that all sightings were recorded using standard symbols and nomenclature, to enable accurate comparisons over long time periods. We also highlighted our more unusual sightings (sperm whale, pilot whales, Risso’s dolphins, etc.).

MARCH

At Kuda Huraa, over 13 trips we recorded 887 Spinners plus one small pod of 10 Bottlenose dolphins. We have been working through our backlog of ID photos, and added three new individuals to our database (TT052 Sandy, SL017 Ziggy, SL015 Leeroy Jenkins).

At Landaa, we held eight dolphin cruises this month, and sighted 270 Spinners in encounters averaging 20 minutes duration. From our ID photos, we were able to uniquely identify five new Spinners, and confirmed the resightings of three known individuals (SL0325 Luna Lovegood, SL0101 Katie, SL0047 Corinna). We also reviewed our historical sightings dating back to 2014, to consolidate the database and to map correctly with Google Earth.

MAY

At Landaa, we held 11 dolphin cruises and encountered mainly pods of Spinners as usual, but also Bottlenose (three pods), and Risso’s (one pod). From our ID photographs this month, we were able to uniquely identify five new Spinners for our database, and confirmed resightings for thirteen named individuals.
At Kuda Huraa, we held 12 dolphin excursions, sighted 500 Spinners in total, plus one pod of fifteen Pilot Whales. From our photos, we added eight new Spinners and confirmed an impressive 21 re-sightings of previously identified dolphins (including an exciting spot of Cheddar/SL008, who had not been recorded since December 2020).

Leucism in Dolphins in the Maldives

Originally thought to be the only spinner dolphin with leucism in North Malé Atoll, Snow (SL076) has been a rare and privileged sighting on our dolphin cruises. We have now sighted a young juvenile also with leucism, named ‘Snowflake’, within the pod that is often seen around the SE part of this atoll.

In recent months, further reports of leucism have been reported in other parts of the Maldives. This may suggest an increase in genetic defects in local dolphin populations, perhaps due to microplastic ingestion, pollution, or climate change.

JUNE

At Landaa, we sighted 245 Spinners across the eleven dolphin cruises this month, in encounters averaging 15 minutes duration. We also sighted one pod of Bottlenose, and one pod of Risso’s dolphins. From our ID photos, we confirmed the resightings of four Spinners.

At Kuda Huraa, we recorded an impressive 2255 Spinners over 16 guest excursions. From our ID photographs, we confirmed resightings of 33 Spinners in our database, and added nine new unique individuals. We observed that one Spinner (‘Messiah’) has a very unusual dorsal fin pattern – a small hole through the fin’s upper segment (see photo).
We sighted two separate pods of pilot whales this month, totalling 70 individuals. These two pods have been known to visit this part of the Maldives during their migrations across the Indian Ocean. Some of these individuals have not been sighted since 2018. From our photos, we confirmed resightings of 24 pilots, and added 10 new individuals to our database.

JULY 2023

At Landaa this month, we sighted 172 Spinners across 13 dolphin cruises, in average encounters of 20 minutes duration. From our ID photos, we confirmed eight resightings and added one new individual to our database. We also spotted four small pods of Bottlenose dolphins on four different days across July, totalling 13 individuals.

At Kuda Huraa this month, we sighted 2000 Spinners over 15 trips. From our ID photos, we confirmed an impressive 35 Spinner resightings, and added five new individuals to our database.
We also spotted a previously-unrecorded pod of five Risso’s dolphins, and as we successfully photographed each individual, we were able to assign unique names & numbers for our database – Bear (GG017), Hawk (GG018), Viper (GG019), Scorpion (GG020), and Wolf (GG021).
Sighting Risso’s dolphins is always a rare treat. As deep divers, their time at the surface is usually very short, as they bask in the sun in preparation for the next dive to hunt for deep-sea squid. From our photos, you can see ‘battle’ scars from encounters with large squid, amongst bites and scratches from other competing Risso’s.
Thanks to some excellent published research by Karin L. Hartman, we are able to estimate the age of the Risso’s based on their head colouration and overlapping scarification. We can deduce that four individuals were adults (22-34 y/o), with one sub-adult (13-21 y/o) exhibiting few dorsal scars.

AUGUST

At Landaa during August, we sighted 35 Spinners, four pods of Bottlenose, and one pod of Risso’s. From our ID photos, we were able to identify seven new Spinners (plus one resighting), three new Bottlenose (plus four resightings), and nine new Risso’s dolphins.

At Kuda Huraa this month, we recorded 2350 Spinners across 17 excursions. We also sighted one pod of 20 Bottlenose, plus one pod of five Risso’s dolphins. From our ID photographs, we added 15 new Spinners to our database, and confirmed 37 resightings; this included spotting Snowflake’s rare pale colouration on three separate days. It is noteworthy that most members of the Bottlenose pod were seen to have very unusual fin morphology, including Sobek (TT063) with a half fin, likely due to collision with a boat propeller.

SEPTEMBER

At Landaa during September, we held 12 dolphin cruises and sighted 45 Spinners in encounters averaging 19 minutes in duration. We also encountered pods of Bottlenose and Risso’s dolphins.
From our ID photographs, we identified a total of 37 dolphins: nine Spinners, 11 Risso’s (one resighting plus 10 new), 17 Bottlenose (three resightings plus 14 new).

At Kuda Huraa this month, over 16 trips we recorded 1900+ Spinners plus one pod of 30 Bottlenose and one pod of Risso’s. From our ID photos, we positively identified 24 individuals (including Snowflake, sighted on four separate days). Of the 20 Spinners, seven were new additions to our database.