Comments on: Rare dolphin found on Canterbury beach

By: hayley reed

hayley reed — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:40:55 +0000

Awe, looks so pretty. These are my favorite dolphins of all of them! Poor baby, I would love to see one alive!

By: jane keig

jane keig — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 22:06:00 +0000

Thanks Craig, Anton van Helden once said that you could be walking in the beach and discover a completely new species of whale or dolphin…that’s how little we know of them. You did the right thing by calling DoC, and yes, it’s always a pretty sad sight.

By: Craig

Craig — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 21:50:30 +0000

We (Myself, my wife and two boy’s) came across this last Saturday on the beach in Flea Bay. We had no idea how significant this was, just felt a bit sad to see a dead dolphin on the beach.
Got a couple of pictures on the cellphone. Called DoC when were in Akaroa, but no answer, so left it at that.

By: janekeig

janekeig — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:34:31 +0000

@Sky and Rosiena – I feel the same way and I know that our scientists would much rather be studying these dolphins in the wild. NZ has been called the “Land of Strandings” and we have many stranding events every year. Sometimes the animals can be refloated but often they occur on remote beaches where the public rarely go.

@Levi – regrettably we can’t preserve specimens like this one to put on display, but we can commission a model!

@Smivs – HI! Great to see you’re still following our blog post-squid. And yes, the scientists hope that the necropsy will help to define its classification.

By: Levi

Levi — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:20:50 +0000

I really hope you guys preserve it as well, are there any plans afoot to have it on display someday, I’d love to bring the children down to see it!

By: Rosiena

Rosiena — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:04:28 +0000

What a beautiful looking mammal. would really like to see it up close.
What else is under the sea that we have little knowledge about.
Feel very sad to see that dolphin like that.

By: sky kavana

sky kavana — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:52:45 +0000

oh my goodness!!! Long time collector of dolphins!!!! Love dolphins so much and have been collecting since the age of 15yrs… and yet have not seen a real dolphin in life. out of my whole collection of dolphins I have not seen one of these! very rare indeed and sadenss me that it is not still living

By: jane keig

jane keig — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:16:34 +0000

Thanks Levi…very exciting for scientists around the world. Of course, we would much rather study these animals in their natural habitat! But this opportunity has arisen and will provide invaluable insights in this particular dolphin’s biology.
I will be adding in some links to the blog tomorrow, was a bit too excited today!

By: Levi

Levi — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:10:45 +0000

I’m linking this to my facebook page

By: Levi

Levi — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:08:57 +0000

Wow,
What an amazing looking animal! I’ve never heard or seen of it before! It looks fast!