Another great day (I am starting to think everyday is a great day on Mikura)

 dolphin calf shark bite Let me tell you the story of a brave little dolphin who survived a nasty shark attack  The first image is provided by Nana Takanawa – for more of her amazing pictures of dolphins and Mikura, visit her site.

These two pictures are of little Hamlet and his mother Hama-chan (#086). As you can see from the first picture, poor little Hamlet was attacked by a shark when he was very young (sometime last year I believe). There is a sizable chunk missing from his back just behind his dorsal fin. He was nicknamed Hamlet because the researchers here were not sure if he would survive, thus the pronouncement for his predicament: ‘To be or not to be’. No one knew if he would survive this grave injury. But I am glad to report that little Hamlet did survive and I managed to get him on film today (see the second picture). His injury has left a nasty scar, but he appears to be going strong.   dolphin calf shark bite We had another boat trip this morning. Aside from spotting Hamlet a few times, we spent a lot of time with #057 and her older calf. The calf was very interested in the camera, and gave me another circle swimming workout. This afternoon I need to look after the equipment and start organizing data – with 4 trips in 3 days, there is a lot to do!

-Justin