THE STORY OF WEDGES, THE GOLDEN TREVALLY HUNTER, AND HER CALF WHOOPS.

By: Janet Mann

In May of 1999, I was surveying a group of dolphins and noted a very tiny newborn calf. The mother, Wedges, stayed close by her side, but left twice to chase a large dusky shark that was pestering the group of females and calves. The calf was clearly born out of season, and hence named "Whoops". Newborn calves are hard to come by, so I enrolled Wedges in my long-term study of mothers and calves. During that first follow, Wedges began these tremendous high leaps in rapid pursuit of fish. She caught her prize, a large golden trevally, nearly one meter in length. In 12 years of watching adult females, I had never seen a catch so impressive. Whoops seemed less impressed. She darted back and forth, whistling constantly as her mother b-lined for shallow water and broke the fish up in shallow sand flats. It took Wedges nearly an hour to consume the fish. Poor Whoops didn’t get to nurse the entire time. But there were other things to worry about. Twice, large tiger sharks cruised close by, seemingly attracted by the broken bits of fish. Each time Wedges and Whoops sped to even shallower water to continue feeding. At the time, I thought this event was merely a “fluke” and wouldn’t happen again. About two hours after the first trevally catch, Wedges caught another, although this one was slightly smaller. We’ve now followed Wedges for five years and she catches trevally every few hours. During one follow in 2002, Wedges finished off a large trevally and then lay still in 4 ft. of water for over four hours. Her slight arching suggested that she may have had an awful stomach ache. No surprise, given the size of the trevally bones. We anchored and waited with her until sunset. By the next day, she was out hunting again. No other dolphin has been observed catching a fish this large, although Puck was seen carrying trevally twice, but both times Wedges was close behind her. Researchers suspect that Puck may have stolen her fish, a rare occurrence among dolphins. Whoops, who is nearly five and going through the weaning process, is too small to catch such spectacular fish, but we expect that one day, she will.

Wedges and Whoops, Whoops is 
swimming in baby position

Wedges catching a large golden trevally, Whoops is close by


Return to Research Findings