Yes, they do. Killer whales eat sharks. Sharks have also been found in the stomachs of sperm whales. Most toothed whales, however, stay away from sharks because sharks eat dolphins when they can catch them. In the tropics, there is a shark that specializes on taking small bites out of the side of a dolphin. It is called a cookie cutter shark because it leaves wounds that look like they were made by a cookie cutter. --From Lisa
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17) Leeann Wilchar has this question, "Can a whale's skin be easily scratched (like with a fingernail)?"
Dolphins have very sensitive skin. A few years ago I went to help rescue a common dolphin that had stranded alive on a beach in California. We kept the animal wet and shaded until the veternarian arrived. I remember stroking the side of the animal to calm it down and I barely nicked the skin with my fingernail and it started to bleed a little. Another time, I was at a mass stranding of sperm whales on a beach in Oregon and I walked up to a live 20 ton whale, an adult female lying on her side. I just barely touched her with my hand and she flinched. It is impossible to tell, of course, but I think the skin of whales and dolphins may be as sensitive as our own. --From Bob
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18) Jody Kaurup wonders "Do you ever swim with whales in their natural habitat?"
Personally, I have never done this. It is unusual to find yourself in a circumstance where a wild animal will allow you to come close to it and this is also the case for whales. While whales and dolphins may be curious and even friendly around ships and boats, usually when a person gets in the water, they flee. However, there are some places where whales and dolphins do not seem to mind having people in the water near them. Humpback whales off the coast of Hawaii have been photographed at close range by divers; spotted dolphins in the Caribbean regularly swim with divers in shallow water; and there is a beach in Australia where bottlenose dolphins come to be fed and petted by humans. I hope to be able to experience an encounter like this some day. For me the importance is that the animal be free either to approach you or to leave if it feels threatened. --From Lisa
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19) Ashley Barows asks, "Do you help whales if they need it?"
Normally we don't get the opportunity to help whales; the best thing you can do for them is just to leave them alone. But occasionally we get an opportunity. Once we were in the central Pacific Ocean and we passed by a rough-toothed dolphin that was trapped in a large net that had drifted offshore. We stopped the ship and launched a small boat and went over and cut the dolphin free from the netting. Another time off California we found a gray whale that had a heavy line wrapped around its tail and it was dragging a large, heavy crab pot with it. It took us several hours but we were eventually able to sneak up behind the whale and cut the line free. The best way to help whales is to make sure they continue to have a safe, clean enivonment to live in. --From Bob
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20) Jennifer Rogers asks, "Which whales and seabirds in the Indian Ocean are endangered?"
There are actually quite a few but I'll tell you about the rarest of each. For birds it is a toss up. A few years ago a new species of albatross was discovered breeding on Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean - it was appropriately named the Amsterdam Albatross. Only five breeding pairs have ever been found making it one of the rarest birds in the world. This particular species went straight from being discovered to an endangered species status. And it isn't endangered because of anything that people have done, just for some unknown reason it is very rare. Another candidate for the rarest seabird in the Indian Ocean (or anywhere!) is the Mascarene Petrel. It is known from 4 specimens collected over 100 years ago and 1 collected recently at Reunion Island. These are the only confirmed records of this species. We have been looking for both of these species during the present cruise but we don't realy expect to see either.
For the whales there is the curious case of Mesoplodon pacificus, so rare it doesn't have a common name. It is known from two skulls, one of which was found on the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean. The skull is different enough from all the other whales known that scientists are quite certain it is a different species, but we have no idea what it looks like in life. It may qualify as the rarest large animal in the world and is certainly the least known. -- From Bob
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