A lot has happened since our last newsletter - the Bahamas suffered the devastating hurricane Matthew, although Abaco, where the research centre is located, was largely spared with little damage. Around the time of the hurricane we had reports of two marine mammal strandings and also one of our resident manatees, Rita, gave birth to a new calf, her second born in the Bahamas. Before the storm we had a very successful day on the water with beaked whales, and had a new beaked whale manuscript published. We also expanded our board to include a new member, Keith Salvesen - welcome Keith!
If you haven't already done so, check out BMMRO's new website!
Above, the track and enormity of hurricane Matthew is shown as it approached the Bahamas. The sperm whale calf shown bottom left, stranded in Grand Bahama a couple of days before the hurricane hit, and the beaked whale, bottom right, was reported having stranded in Andros after the hurricane had passed, although its advanced state of decomposition suggests it had stranded some weeks before the hurricane. Our stranding network members in Grand Bahama collected tissue samples from the sperm whale for analysis, however the beaked whale was too decomposed for any useful data to be collected to determine cause of death.
Photos above show Rita and her new calf, "Andie", named through a facebook competition on our Bahamas Manatee Club facebook page. Photos are from our friends at Kamalame Cay in Andros - thanks especially to Kelly.
Finally, below are a couple of pictures from a successful day on the water at the end of September when we encountered two groups of Blainville's beaked whales comprising individuals that we have been tracking for almost two decades, two of which had new calves born in the last three months.
