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Within the publish right here I described how, on 25 November 2013, we had seen two Orcas off Dondra Head in Sri Lanka whereas heading out to see Blue Whales. I continued:
Then issues obtained much more fascinating. A fellow traveller on the Naturetrek tour whale-watching extension despatched us a nonetheless {photograph} which confirmed the orcas pushing what seemed to be some kind of dolphin with a brownish coloration across the base of a beak. I had missed it on video as I modified positions however might simply see the top of the motion as I started to movie once more. Different photographers had despatched stills to OPSL [Orca Project Sri Lanka] and so they in flip requested consultants on marine mammals. Right here is an extract from OPSL’s publish of 19 December 2013 (the pictures are proven there):
…OPSL in collaboration with Josh McInnes of the The Transient Killer Whale Analysis Venture are presently writing a small paper on a really thrilling discovering. When OM001 and OK008 visited Mirissa on the twenty fifth of November, they determined to chow down on the native marine-life…so what’s on their menu? Seems they like Beaked whale, deep diving and little-understood cetaceans of the Ziphiidae household…Commentary particulars embrace the orcas feeding on an unidentified object. In two of the pictures, a beak or rostrum will be seen with a patchy brown/inexperienced colouration to the encompassing pores and skin. OPSL contacted Josh McInnes, who specializes within the examine of mammal-eating (transient) killer whales of the Pacific Northwest, to supply his opinion on the ID. After trying on the photographs, Josh concluded that the beak form and brown/inexperienced colouration (brought on by diatoms) seems to be according to that of a Blainville’s beaked whale Mesoplodon densirostris.
A few weeks in the past I used to be trying by way of the nonetheless pictures AJP had taken. I used to be doing so with the intention to put them by way of Topaz DeNoise AI—an awesome piece of software program that reduces drmatically the results of diffraction in cameras with small sensors. After I enlarged one on display screen there was the orca and in entrance of it, the beaked whale. The podium of the latter will be seen clearly.
Right here is the {photograph} from the closely cropped model to the complete body:
I’ve amended the unique article.
OPSL’s web site is effectively price a go to as a result of it supplies hyperlinks to particulars of the Orcas that we noticed in addition to the others noticed off Sri Lanka and the place they went subsequent on the earth.
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