Sperm Whales of Dominica
Dominica is known as Nature Island, and immediately upon arrival you can see why. The island is lush with jungle and alive with the sounds of coqui frogs and endemic birds. Though there are no active volcanoes, the island is literally bubbling with volcanic activity in the form of sulfur springs and pools, and is divided by dramatic peaks that often separate weather coming from the Atlantic across to the Caribbean. The drastic drop-offs of the mountains continue to the sea floor, resulting in impressive depths very close to shore.
Dwelling in Dominica’s waters, the world’s best studied Sperm Whales reside in family groups of various sizes. These tranquil waters give them the perfect home to hunt, socialize, and breed, and the matriarchal family units largely stay put, while males whales may travel further afield. It is estimated that there are approximately 300 individuals in the Eastern Caribbean, with 25 different family units identified, and 10 familiar family units that are spotted regularly in Dominican waters. Identification efforts began in 1984, but most likely these families have been around much much longer, decades, possibly even centuries, going back several generations of matriarchal lines.
The Dominica Sperm Whale Project is a team of researchers that have spent years in observation of these whales are have made ground-breaking discoveries thanks to their consistent presence in Dominica’s waters. They have defined specific codas, clicks and vocalizations, that they believe help the family groups identify one another. They also observe how the whales socialize, within the family unit and when different families meet, deep diving behavior, and above all, man-made threats to this amazing population of whales. Currently, Dominica’s whales do not have any protection, one of the project’s main objectives is to establish a Marine Protected Area within Dominica’s waters to give the whales a well-deserved sanctuary, particularly from ship traffic, entanglement hazards, noise pollution, and maintaining continued regulations with whale watching and whale swimming operators.
Latitude has been thrilled to bring guests for government-permitted whale swims for the last two years, and we hope to continue well into the future. Knowing more about each individual and family unit enriches the experience; Fernanda has even tattooed her favorite whale Rita on her arm! Despite being the world’s largest predator these animal are so sweet with one another and so enduring in their societies, we hope through our expeditions we can spread further awareness to help get these important whales the protection to continue to thrive for generations to come.
Learn more on the The Dominica Sperm Whale Project’s website and download their ID catalog of Sperm Whales here.
