[ Previous Article ] - [ Articles ] - [ Next Article ]

Natcho and Baby

by Scarlet Colley - May 1999

South Padre Island offers a diverse spectrum of water sports. One of the most rewarding sports is time spent on the waters of the Laguna Madre Bay or in the Gulf of Mexico watching dolphins. South Padre Island has its own families of bottle-nosed dolphins that live in our waters year round. Captain Colley and I have been documenting these animals four years in the bay waters. We have come to know and love these dolphins as our extended family. In the beginning we learned quickly we were seeing the same dolphins daily. Since 1995, we captured over 200 dolphins on film and named over fifty of them.

Unlike their larger relations, the whales, dolphins rarely show their tails, so we have identified them by their prominent dorsal fin. Many dolphins have distinguishable fins marked from injuries, others have a more subtle variation, but each dorsal is unique.

Natcho is an easily recognizable dolphin. She is white and has a notch cut out of the top of her dorsal. In the photo, she is with her two year old baby, named Titan. She birthed Titan in April of 1997. He was coal black, two feet long, and still wrinkled when she showed him to us. He is now white like his mother and still seen at her side. The other day we watched him playing with the new young calves in his pod. He seemed to know it was his birthday. It has been exciting to watch him grow.

Natcho & Titan

The dolphins of the Laguna Madre have to be specialized in their navigational abilities because of the cloudy waters. Off-shore, they can use their eyes as we do, but in the murky bay water, they rely on echo location. It is very much like a blind person having a heightened ability to hear and touch. Quite often, the dolphins will make a special effort to bring their eyes out of the water as they take a breath. Their blow hole is situated on top of their head, so their eyes can stay submerged, but we suspect they like to look at us as much as we like to look at them. Some dolphins seem more interested than others, and some seem to thrive on making a spectacular show for us. Different from captive dolphins, these wild animals are free to do what they want, and when they want to do it. The babies are an exception, I have observed more than one mother push her baby back to its dinner when it wanted to play instead.

Baby is another dolphin I am thrilled to share with you. You can see that his dorsal is cut off. We named him “Baby” last year when he was orphaned in April. His mother’s death was a mystery, she was found floating out in the jetties and Baby was only three months old. He was not adopted by the pod and left alone to live or die. We watched him, feeling quite helpless to interfere. But he was a strong guy and he taught himself to feed on the fish caught by the bay shrimpers. This food source seemed to be enough to sustain him without his mother to nurse him. He was constantly cut up and we worried about infection. One day, in June, he lost half of his dorsal. This deep wound eventually healed and in August, we saw Baby again, this time leaping excitedly, he had been adopted by Twister and Jasmine’s pod.

Baby's Dorsal Fin

Baby left the Bay in March, but just a couple of weeks ago, we spotted him again, this time playing with Bubbles and Skip, two other young dolphins. We were relieved to see Baby back home safe and sound. We worry about the dolphins when we don’t see them for several weeks. With only seven miles to the Mexican borders, where dolphins are not protected, it is unsafe for them to travel too far.

Next month we will bring you more information about our very special family of bottle-nosed dolphins.

[ Top ]