The dolphin that died off the coast of Zeytinburnu and was dragged by another dolphin to Yeşilköy beach in six days became the subject of a scientific study.
The incident, which has been seen in 96 cases in 24 dolphin and whale species to date, was featured in the “Journal of the Black Sea / Mediterranean Environment”, the periodical scientific journal of the Turkish Marine Research Foundation, which has been published for 30 years. Istanbul University (IU) Faculty of Aquatic Sciences, Marine Biology Department Lecturer and Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TÜDAV) Vice President Assoc. Dr. Arda Tonay said, “In three separate observations, it is seen that he did not leave his head for at least 6 days. They flowed together from Zeytinburnu to Yeşilköy. “It was a very interesting record from a scientific perspective,” he said.
“He did not leave her side for 6 days”
Volkan Günel, an instructor and diver in Gökçeada, noticed two dolphins while he was wandering around Zeytinburnu with his boat. Günel recorded the moment when the dead dolphin was brought to the shore by another dolphin with his mobile phone camera and shared these images on social media. The moments when the dead dolphin was brought to Yeşilköy Beach by another dolphin in 6 days was also the subject of a scientific article. Istanbul University (IU) Faculty of Aquatic Sciences, Marine Biology Department Lecturer and Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TÜDAV) Vice President Assoc. Dr. Arda Tonay stated that, based on scientific data, this behavior has been recorded in 96 cases in 24 dolphin and whale species in the world’s seas so far. Tonay said about the incident seen for the first time in the Turkish seas: “In three separate observations, it was seen that he did not leave his side for at least 6 days. They flowed together from Zeytinburnu to Yeşilköy. “It was a very interesting record in scientific terms,” he said.
“An interesting record in scientific terms”
Assoc. Dr. Tonay said, “An interesting behavior of a bottlenose dolphin in the Marmara Sea in March was recorded by the observations of four different citizens. This behavior is a scientific behavior called epimeletic. It can be described as another individual helping or trying to protect a living or dead individual. In our case, there was a male individual. It was an individual that had been dead for more than a day, and another bottlenose dolphin was standing by it, pushing the dolphin away from the area by pushing it with its nose or attaching its fin, in order to remove the dead body from any boat coming to the area. He was trying to distance the dead dolphin from people coming by boat. In three separate observations, he did not leave the animal’s head for 6 days. They flowed together from Zeytinburnu to Yeşilköy. The dead dolphin washed ashore in Avcılar 4-5 days later. “After that, we did not see any other individual exhibiting epimeletic behavior in the region again.” he said.
“There are 96 cases in 24 dolphin and whale species”
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Tonay said, “So far, there have been 96 cases of this behavior in 24 dolphin and whale species. Generally, all but 7 are between mother and offspring; In fact, it is seen as the mother’s inability to say goodbye to the baby as a result of the loss of the baby. Frankly, only 2 of these 7 observations are similar to our case in that they are between two adults. As I said, this is a very rare behavior. Especially since it’s between two adults. It really breaks your heart when you see the images. There is nothing you can do. All we do is try to prevent boats from trying to approach the area by informing the authorities, the Coast Guard, the Maritime Police, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Fisheries Branch Directorate about the issue. The incident ended after 6 days. “Finally, we published the scientific article and shared it with the world,” he said.
