Atlantic white-sided dolphin

How it lives

Pods are often 50 to 60 animals, though NOAA gives groups of 5 to 50. Females mature at about 6 to 12 years and males at 7 to 11. Gestation lasts about 11 months and calves nurse for around 18 months, with 1 to 3 years between births. Most calves are born in June and July. NOAA gives a lifespan of at least 27 years.

Where it goes

A wide-ranging dolphin of cold North Atlantic waters, from Svalbard to Brittany in the east and south to about 38 degrees north in the west. It favours outer continental shelves 100 to 300 m deep, in water of about 5 to 16 degrees Celsius. The sources I read do not describe fixed migration routes.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

Worldwide numbers are not known, but NOAA says at least hundreds of thousands. The IUCN text gives more than 100,000, including about 51,640 off eastern North America and about 96,000 off western Scotland, with no reported declines. NOAA's western North Atlantic stock is about 93,233 (recent surveys, year not given). I found no separate Faroe Islands estimate. The species is still hunted in the Faroe Islands, with 300 to 600 killed a year in 2004 to 2006 and 1,423 in one drive in September 2021. Faroese authorities later set a limit of 500 a year. It is also hunted in parts of eastern Canada and Greenland.