homepage of Vladimir Dinets-Whales part 9

Ladoga ringed seals (Ph. h. ladogensis), Valaam Is, Russia.

Part 9: Other Places

Since the last Ice Age, relict populations of seals survive in some large lakes of Fennoscandia, Asia and Canada.

In spring, Baikal seals (Phoca
sibirica) can be found on ice in
the Northern part of the lake.

Ladoga ringed seal (Phoca hispida ladogensis), Lake Ladoga, Russia.

Most of them originate from Arctic ringed seal, and need ice floes to breed. Only lake seals of Labrador are a subspecies of harbor seal, and breed on small islands.

In summer, they haul out on
Ushkan'i Islands in the lake's
central part.

City of Turkmenbashi (formerly Krasnovodsk),
Turkmenistan.

An easy way to see one of inland seals is to take a ferry from Turkmenistan to Baku, Azerbaijan - it passes by a summer haulout.

Caspian seals (pH caspica), Southern Jetty
of Krasnovodsk Bay.

Karadag, Crimea.

There are no extant seals in the Black Sea, but three dolphin species are common here, particularly the short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis). In summer, all three are drawn to northern and eastern coasts by strong upwellings, and can sometimes be seen below the cliffs of Karadag, an extinct volcano in Crimea. Only the harbor porpoise (Phocaena phocaena) enters the shallow Sea of Azov, where it is often encountered by divers.

Karadag, Crimea.

Bottlenose dolphin, Karadag, Crimea.

Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is the less common one in the Black Sea.
dolphin

Common dolphin, off Sukhumi, Abkhazia.

Harbor porpoise, Karadag, Crimea.


Short-beaked common dolphin, Skomer I., Wales.		Harbor porpoise, Skomer I.	Gray seal (Phoca gryphus), Skomer I., Wales.

Remote beaches of Kauai Island, Hawaii,
are the only place to see Hawaiian monk
seal (Monachus schauinslandi) without going
to more remote locations like Midway. Recently
they even started breeding here.

Many interesting mammals inhabit tropical oceans, but they can be very difficult to find. It's not unusual to spend many days at sea, seeing no whales or dolphins at all. Most common in the tropics are common dolphins and various Stenella species.

In winter, humpbacks are often seen offshore,
each usually followed by a horde of tour boats. Whalewatching tours on Hawaii stay close to
shore, so other species, except for pantropical
spinner dolphin, are unlikely to be seen.


Humpback whales (Megaptera noveangliae), off Samana Peninsula, Dominican Republic.

Sunset in the Sargasso Sea, east of
the Bahamas.

Once I spent almost two weeks in "Bermuda Triangle" east of the Bahamas, and only saw one small group of spotted dolphins. To get more pictures of rare marine mammals for this page, I should spend much more time in the tropical seas!

Fraser's dolphin (Lagenodelphis
hosei), off Zanzibar.


Finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides), Baiji Research Center, Wuhan, China.

Houseboats, lower Yangze near
Nanjing. Hundreds of thousands of
people permanently live on the river,
fishing and transporting goods.
These boats cause a lot of pollution.

Across the Pacific, the coastal waters of China, Korea and the Philippines have lost most of large marine fauna. In 1983, I was lucky to see one of the last Chinese river dolphins, but now it is extinct, and the only dolphins left in the Yangze are tiny finless porpoises, still common in the great river and some of its tributaries.

Chinese river dolphin, or baiji
(Lipotes vexillifer), Lake Dongting
near Changde. This is the last
photo taken in the wild (digitally
enhanced in Adobe Photoshop).


Finless porpoises, Baiji Research Center, Wuhan, China.

Finless porpoise, Baiji Research Center.

Finless porpoises are cute and friendly.

Finless porpoise, Nantong, Jiangsu.
But they aren't easy to find in the wild.

Finless porpoise, Baiji Research Center.


Finless porpoises, Baiji Research Center, Wuhan, China.

Finless porpoise, Baiji Research Center.

Some other Asian rivers (Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Irrawadi) also have dolphins, but they are now increasingly rare.

Finless porpoise, Baiji Research Center.



Irrawadi dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), Chilika Lake, Orissa.

Irrawadi dolphin, Chilika Lake.

Irrawadi dolphin can be found in shallow bays, lagoons and large rivers from India to China. Chilika Lake in India, is one place where it can be easily seen. This location is now such a popular tourist spot that the level of disturbance is nightmarish. All day long, dozens of noisy boats circle dolphin pods, often chasing the dolphins to provide tourists with better photos. Irrawadi dolphins look like miniature beluga whales, but they have dorsal fins. They can be easily recognized by the peculiar manner of showing half of their tail vertically every time they surface, as dive sequences on this page illustrate.

Irrawadi dolphins, Chilika Lake.


Irrawadi dolphins, Chilika Lake, Orissa.

Ganges River dolphins (Platanista indica),
Kateraniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh.

Ganges River dolphin is still relatively common in a few remote locations, but most populations decline because of draughts, pollution and fishing nets.

Ganges River dolphin, Kateraniaghat WS,
Uttar Pradesh, India.

Indus River dolphin (P. minor), Pakistan.

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