Skip to content
All articles
  • All articles
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Fundraising
  • Green Whale
  • Kids blogs
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
Dolphins captured for captivity in Taiji. Image: Hans Peter Roth

Loved and killed – whales and dolphins in Japan

Protests and criticism from outside Japan in response to the slaughter of whales and dolphins...
Narwhal with beluga whales

Unusual Whale Adoptions

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
Irrawaddy dolphin

Helping fishers protect dolphins in Sarawak, Borneo

Fishing nets are bad news for dolphins and porpoises, so we're working with local fishers...
Dolphin watching from Chanonry Point, Scotland. Image: WDC/Charlie Phillips

Discovering inner peace – whale and dolphin watching and mental wellbeing

Guest blog If you've ever seen whales or dolphins in the wild, you'll know that...
Whale tail

An ocean of hope

In a monumental, jaw-dropping demonstration of global community, the nations of the world made history...
North Atlantic right whale Porcia and her calf.

Critically Endangered Right Whale Babies Spotted

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
The infamous killing cove at Taiji, Japan

Why the Taiji dolphin hunt can never be justified

Supporters of the dolphin slaughter in Japan argue that killing a few hundred dolphins every...
Image: Peter Linforth

Tracking whales from space will help us save them

Satellite technology holds one of the keys to 21st century whale conservation, so we're exploring...

Under The Skin…

We are into the bottlenose dolphin calving season up here in the Moray Firth and I often get asked about the discoloured, sometimes unsightly marks and blotches that often appear on young (and not so young) dolphins skin. These skin “lesions” as they are called appear to take on many different “types”, colours and shapes – both on adult dolphins and more noticeably on youngsters that have much paler skin. In the case of ID#1168, the not quite year old calf of ID#744 “Bonnie” in the photo below, he or she has lots of little markings here and there over all the body surface but there is a large grey patch on the rear flank that is more easily seen. This patch is already beginning to vanish compared to earlier photos as are other marks and so is the yellow staining on the dorsal fin and around the mouth. We often find that after a year or two the young dolphin looks much “cleaner” and we believe that skin lesions are not painful or irritating but are just something that these dolphins live with throughout their lives. Their skin has a tough environment to cope with – very cold water, differing salinities, sustaining tooth rake and bite marks from each other and collision damage plus bacterial infection too.  photo ID1168BonniesCalf.jpg Best Wishes, Charlie.

About Charlie Phillips

Field officer - Adopt a Dolphin