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‘Dony’ seems to be small for an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, certainly much smaller than ‘Fungie’ or ‘Freddie’ and perhaps 7' or 8' long. His body is heavily scarred, featuring many tooth-rake marks, parasite marks, propellor scars and what look like net-marks (on both sides of torso, behind the eyes). His peduncle and the leading edge of his dorsal fin are white with scarring and the trailing edge of his dorsal fin is tattered. His tail fluke is not in great shape either, with various chunks missing out of its trailing edge. His skin is pock-marked with numerous other scars presumed to be from parasites.
In 2001 Dony received a serious propeller injury to his dorsal fin which is still clearly visible 2 years later.
The sex of the dolphin is often clear from his not infrequent habit of extruding his penis.
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Dony’s small size and his frisky behaviour made us think at first that he must be a young animal, despite the heavy scarring which must have taken years to accumulate. However on having opportunity to examine his teeth, they appear to be quite well-worn, more like Fungie’s than Dusty’s, so perhaps he is a mature animal after all, just a small one.
By the summer of 2002 Dony had acquired lots of new scars and in particular a deep gash to the front of his dorsal fin. This is still very clearly visible in May 2003 and in the meantime he has picked up more scarring especially on his dorsal fin.
For more pictures of Dony go here
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Date
Posted: 14/07/2001
Date
Edited: 05/01/2004
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