Bottlenose dolphins tossing jellyfish! But why?

Apparently, bottlenose dolphins enjoy batting jellyfish around.

Keith Rittmaster captured some great shots of the action near Shackleford Banks and the News and Observer‘s Mitchell Willetts wrote an article about it in December 2020.

Read the article at the N&O

A bottlenose dolphin holds a jellyfish in it’s mouth as it swims. PHOTO BY KEITH RITTMASTER, NC MARITIME MUSEUM, UNDER NOAA/NMFS PERMIT

The following links expand on points about the Gulf of Mexico whale in John Ososky’s talk at the University of Florida Gainesville on 31 October 2024:

For more information about marine mammal stranding networks please visit https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-life-distress/marine-mammal-health-and-stranding-response-program.

Whales on the Brink Symposium, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, November 2023

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQmxS2U3B6KaUPksTqmC2BLUPwXFEHnCN

100 Scientists Open Letter on the Gulf of Mexico whale to the Biden Administration

https://www.neaq.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Scientist-statement.-GoM-whale.-Oct.-2022.pdf

Great Whale Conservancy – Economic Value of Living Whales

The Economic Value of Living Whales | GWC | Great Whale Conservancy

To learn about the Gulf of Mexico Rice’s whale, current status, methods of research, and threats to its existence please visit: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/rices-whale

How a Whale Skull at the Smithsonian Became a Beacon for Marine Mammal Conservation

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-of-natural-history/2023/11/16/how-a-whale-skull-at-the-smithsonian-became-a-beacon-for-marine-mammal-conservation/

Open letter regarding Cuvier’s whale and other whale common names

It’s time to rename Ziphius cavirostris the “goose-beaked whale” – CIMA Research Foundation (cimafoundation.org)

https://www.cimafoundation.org/en/news/its-time-to-rename-ziphius-cavirostris-the-goose-beaked-whale/#:~:text=The%20authors%20request%20a%20change,problematic%20legacy%20of%20Georges%20Cuvier.

We Are All Whalers by The Hopeless Idiot (soundcloud.com)

https://soundcloud.com/thehopelessidiot/we-are-all-whalers

History of whale research and conservation at the Smithsonian video playlist

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQmxS2U3B6KafwKbPd5qSunMSZjrmw908

NOAA Rice’s whale

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/rices-whale

Last Great American Whale by Lou Reed