Orca found dead


A female Orca was found dead in Algarve, south of Portugal. It was with great apprehension that Francisco saw the first photos, showing a missing right flipper. Corsica 018, a known female orca from the Iberian population was the only orca known to have a missing (right) flipper. After being towed to shore, on her arrival to the docs, the distinct scar on the base of her dorsal fin put all doubts to a rest, she was Corsica.
We sighted Corsica in our first dolphin watching tour in Lisbon, back in 2017. She and her daughter, Matteo, travelled with Morales’ pod and we found them 30 min from Lisbon, just off Caparica coast.

Corsica and Matteo close to Lisbon in 2017

Corsica born around the year 2000-2002, making her 20-22 years old, young for an orca, as her grandmother Toni, is still alive and around 50 years old.
She left 2 offspring, Matteo with 5 years and Isa, turning now 1 year.
She does not belong to the ‘famous’ group GLADIS, she was not observed involved in the events of interactions, with any type of boat.

Iberian Orcas collaborated with Neanderthals


Orcas and Neanderthals collaborated in the Strait of Gibraltar to hunt the Atlantic bluefin tuna, according to research.
According to the fossil records found in caves used by the Neanderthals in Gibraltar, it was found that they fed on tunas, despite not having instruments or boats to capture them.

Iberian orcas are a genetically distinct community from the northern European orcas and bluefin tuna play a major role in their diet. As bluefin tuna pass through the Strait of Gibraltar for spawning during Summer, Iberian orcas concentrate efforts in this area to hunt this fish. The Iberian orcas community is composed by family groups with different hunting techniques. Some steal from the fishermen lines, some chance the tuna, tiering them or trapping them on the beach.
Is the last hunting technique that scientists believe that could had been refined with the help of Neanderthals. The orcas would corner the tuna among several members and have them beached on the beach and would receive in exchange the remains of their consumption by Neanderthals.
The orcas benefited from this as they would consume much more energy if they had to tier the fish on their own.
This is not unprecedented, as orcas and whalers collaborated in recorded history. This happened in Eden, in south-eastern Australia between 1840 and 1930. Where whale-eating orcas would shepherd whales into Twofold Bay, there the whalers could kill the whale more efficiently than the orcas and the boats were too small to withstand open ocean and could only operate inside the bay. So that is how both species were benefited.