Page 62 - World of Animals - Issue #31

Conserving dolphins

The fate of the dolphin many species and individual populations are being wiped out one by one. There’s a
real danger of their extinction being fairly imminent. The vaquita’s numbers have been
Nicola Hodgins is the head of science and research at the WDC and develops the declining ten-fold over the last couple of decades and they’re now down to around 75
organisation’s projects surrounding dolphins individuals. There’s a community of orcas that spend their time between the north
What makes dolphins worth saving? of Scotland and around Ireland. They are now down to what’s believed to be eight
Very much their huge intelligence – they’re second only to humans. They individuals, and they’ve not reproduced in years. As long as they’ve been studied they’ve
have been shown to have self-recognition so they’re incredibly intelligent had no calves and at this point you could call them scientifically extinct as a population.
animals, and incredibly social animals as well. They live in family groups Once they’re gone they won’t be replaced.
and have long-term associations. They even have culture which they pass
on down through generations. They are very similar to humans and great apes and just Is there real hope for these seriously endangered species that are now down to double
by their inherent nature they’re worth protecting and conserving. figures in the wild?
Once you go down to those kind of figures the sad story is there’s not really much hope.
What impact would it have if dolphins were to disappear from our oceans? There’s a situation in Hong Kong where the Chinese white dolphin has reached the
It’s hard to say, but the impact would be huge. Dolphins are what we call indicator stage where there are actually years in which every single calf will die within a couple
species, which means that if an ecosystem is losing one of the largest predators, of months of being born. It’s to do with the pollutant level and their numbers have
then there’s something going wrong. They’re sentinel beings and they show us about greatly reduced. The figures are depressing but at the same time there are obviously
the health of the ocean, the fish stocks and pollution. We can’t truly know the effect success stories. There are areas that have been protected and legislation put in place
losing dolphins would have on the food chain. When you look at Californian sea otters, to hopefully reduce the fishing pressure, but also to stop animals being hunted in
they were almost hunted to extinction and there was an enormous impact on their countries around the world. It’s all about awareness, and getting people to realise the
prey species. Everything is interconnected and to lose any species, particularly a top real value of these animals.
predator like dolphins, would be catastrophic.
What can our readers do to contribute to dolphin conservation themselves?
What would you say the future of the dolphin holds? They can donate and become a supporter of the WCD where the funds go towards
Well, there’s so many different species that it’s hard to say. There are 87 to 90 species
© Alamy; FLPA; Corbis; Thinkstock species. Even some of the different populations within those species are in danger. For governments. It’s important to think about your shopping choices – make sure that fish
really important work. They can also help by writing letters to local politicians and
of dolphin, whale and porpoise so it’s difficult to predict the future for each individual
is sustainable and is not coming from sources that are also involved in whaling. Don’t
some it’s positive and for some it’s not so positive. Quite a few populations and species
go to dolphinariums or SeaWorld or any of these places when you’re on holiday. Don’t
are on the brink of extinction because of human threats. It’s a very varied picture.
get fooled by the offer of swimming with smiling, happy dolphins. The majority have
Is there any real danger of dolphins becoming extinct?
been caught from the wild, taken from their families and put into a concrete tank to
Dolphins in general, no. There are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them, but
62 entertain humans. They aren’t living wild and free, which is where they’re meant to be.

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