Tom Crabtree and I saw a strange looking mammal off Oregon recently from a
cruise ship. It looked strange from the front on view we had of it. At the
time we both thought it was a Pilot Whale. Russ Namitz commented about the
rarity of Pilot Whales off Oregon.
I now think it was Risso’s Dolphin, a large dolphin species that I had only
seen twice before. The others that I had seen were pale headed and scarred.
The one we saw from head on leaping out of the water heading toward our ship,
in dolphin style, was dark headed and showed no scarring. It looked much like
this: http://www.eigenheer.ch/thomas/reisen/2007_tahiti/grindwal.jpg ;
<http://www.eigenheer.ch/thomas/reisen/2007_tahiti/grindwal.jpg>. I have read
recently that young Risso’s Dolphins are dard headed and lack the scarring that
often occurs from fighting and playing.
Mammals are fun too.
Jeff Gilligan
