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All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
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Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

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All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
  • Whale watching

Trade sanctions announced after Mexico fails to protect near extinct porpoise

The international body behind the treaty that protects endangered plants and animals from the threats...

WDC exposes failure of Government scheme to protect whales and dolphins from net deaths

Following our investigations, we have revealed that a UK Government scheme to protect whales and...

First cases of bird flu in dolphins discovered in the UK

The UK Government has announced that two dolphins and a harbour porpoise have died from...
Kiska the orca

Kiska the ‘world’s loneliest whale’ dies at Canadian theme park

Kiska, dubbed the loneliest whale in the world, has died at Marineland, a zoo and...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings
Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

Featured policy news item

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc magna elit, gravida at lectus vitae,...
sea_world_orlando_rob_lott

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque Following a three...

Endangered Southern Resident orca loses newborn calf

In heartbreaking news from the Pacific Northwest, the Center for Whale Research has reported that...
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U.S. Defense Bill weakens protections for whales

24 July 2018, Plymouth, MA: The FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act conference report was released...

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Did Icelandic whalers really kill a blue whale?

*Warning - this blog contains an image that you may find upsetting* They say a...
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One step closer to more salmon for endangered Southern Resident orcas

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Surf’s up for porpoises in Wales

Surfing harbour porpoise

Rare images of porpoises surfing the waves off the coast of Wales were snapped by members of a research team from WDC over the weekend as they scanned the water from a land-based platform on the Lleyn peninsula.

Whilst this kind of behaviour is common among their bigger cousins, dolphins, it is not often that the shy little porpoise is spotted surfing the waves. In fact they are only rarely ‘porpoise’ – the term given when a porpoise or dolphin moves at speed and comes completely out of the water.

Pine Eisfeld-Pierantonio, WDC policy manager and member of the research team said; We saw some harbour porpoises just below our platform (350m off the rocks) and we couldn’t believe our eyes - they were surfing!  I have not seen this with porpoises before, only dolphins. We could make their dark shapes out through the water, just under the surface, swimming with the forming waves, sometimes staying under water and sometimes surfing the crest of the wave. Five porpoises including a mother and calf did this, and only this, for well over 30 minutes.

‘These porpoises certainly looked like they enjoyed what they were doing. They rode the wave, then you could see them swim further out to catch the next one. It looked like it was for pure enjoyment, getting a free ride along with the ‘pressure wave’ just like when people go and surf.’

The English word ‘porpoise' is derived from the Latin word for pig – porcus. Rather unflatteringly, the harbour porpoise used to be known as the 'puffing pig', because of the sneeze-like puffing sound they make when they breathe!

More on WDC’s ongoing Bardsey Island research project here

[shariff]

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