Coast to coast: First evidence for translocational movements by Scottish bottlenose dolphins (UK)

The analysis of ranging patterns in cetaceans is crucial to our understanding of the ecology, dynamics, social structure and evolutionary trajectory of a population. Knowledge of individual patterns of space and habitat use may
be used to identify residency and territoriality, for example, but can also provide important insights on the spatial and temporal distribution of available resources (Damuth 1981; Stevick et al. 2002). In the Moray Firth in northeast Scotland, two decades of bottlenose dolphin studies have led us to believe this population is very much isolated in the north-western North Sea region, with no evidence of exchange between animals in adjacent-studied groups on the west coast of Scotland or Ireland being found to date (Wilson & Grellier 2002; PT Stevick pers. comm.; O’Brien et al. in submission). However, in a recent effort to exchange photo-identification data between organisations working with the species in Scottish waters, the very first evidence for translocational movements of animals between the Moray Firth and the Inner Hebrides of the west coast of Scotland has been established.