Over the past few weeks, there have been several attacks from bottlenose dolphins on harbour porpoises around the Moray Firth, Scotland. Sadly, many of the small marine mammals sustain several injuries, including broken ribs from their ‘bigger cousins’.
The latest attack was captured on camera by photographer Alister Kemp near Chanonry Point at Fortrose and the mystery continues to why the bottlenose dolphins are attacking these small marine mammals – possibly competing for food (although they don’t feed on the same species of fish), also as the dolphin themselves do not consume the porpoise it cannot be classed as predation. Just as a cat playing with a mouse, once the porpoise is dead, the dolphins lose interest. Around 40 porpoises are washed up on Scotland’s coastline each year, with 50% showing evidence of dolphin attacks.
It’s not yet clear whether the dolphins are hunting the porpoises for sport, some other reason and whether these attacks are being orchestrated by different groups of dolphins, or if a few isolated individuals are responsible for all of the attacks. Further research is required, however, this behaviour from bottlenose dolphins towards porpoises has also been documented in other parts of the world.
