First Baby Dolphin of 2022

And here we go! A few weeks ago, you were introduced to a list of adult female bottlenose dolphins that could potentially give birth in the next few months. Well, holy babies, Batman, the excitement is underway!

On July 28th, the morning excursion of the Dolphin Explorer noticed a group of dolphins on the sand bar between Keewaydin Island and Big Marco Pass. As the team approached this congregation, it was quite obvious that there was a very small dolphin in the group, much smaller than the many 10-month-olds we see on a regular basis.

As I took photos of the dolphin dorsal fins (that’s how we tell one from another, by the nicks and notches on each fin) a familiar but unique fin popped to the surface. It was Batman. Yep, Batman is a girl, and this lady is already the mother of two others in the area, namely Robin and Elmo.

But on this day, there was a tiny fin next to Batman. It was the team’s first sighting of a calf this year! Typically, the newborn are seen primarily in September and October, but Batman hangs around in the Marco River as well as the shallows of the Gulf of Mexico. The birthing season for the Gulf dolphins has been as early as May, so Batman was not late to any party with a July birth.

There were a lot of guests taking a look at the new calf. In all, nine other dolphins were very close by to welcome the little one to the area. What was the new baby named? Our program has a unique way of doing this.

For most of our new dolphins, the guests on our tours get to name the baby! The team asked folks on board to come up with a few names and a decision would be made. All in all, 11 names were suggested so these were placed in a hat and the democratic process of a drawing took place. Captain Eddie pulled the lucky name from the hat and Batman’s calf is now officially called…GOTHAM! That fits well within the family tree!

Gotham was still very dark in color when we saw it and vertical lines on its sides called “Fetal Folds” were prominent. Fetal Folds are caused by the position of the baby in the womb. Similar to humans, the fetus is curled inside of mom so when delivery takes place these lines on the calf’s sides are very light in contrast to the body color and the fetal folds can actually give us a clue to the baby’s age. We estimated Gotham to be about one week old.

The welcoming committee was comprised of nine other identified dolphins. They included Darwina, Jersey, Anji, Wyatt, Rocky, Tigertail, Scamp, Jordan and Robin. As you might guess, Robin is another offspring of Batman so when they were side by side, we had Batman and Robin!

It’s not unusual for so many dolphins to visit a mom and her newborn calf. We see this quite often with other females as well. Being brand new, Gotham could be the subject of an attack by local sharks so it is common for other dolphins to protect the young ones until their coordination gets a little better. Gotham is just learning to breathe and use those lungs. It is also learning how to swim by mom’s side.

So round one is in the books! Since Batman resides in the Gulf area and our primary study is closer to Marco Island, we don’t expect to see a newborn from our river dolphin population for another month or so. But we’ll watch the gulf waters for another female or two in that region that might give birth.

But…you never know! Life is full of surprises and our crew has come to expect the unexpected, so stay tuned!