Gibraltar Dolphin Trips with Dolphin Adventure: Billy the Bottlenose Dolphin

Billy the Bottlenose Dolphin

In the summer of 2006 we sighted a lone juvenile bottlenose dolphin in the Bay of Gibraltar in amongst a small pod of young striped and common dolphin. Judging from his size we estimated that he was between 9 months and 1 year old and would normally have still been at his mother's side. This is quite out of the ordinary as the Bottlenose dolphins tend to stay out in the Strait of Gibraltar, a few miles away. If they do stray into the Bay of Gibraltar the smaller common and striped dolphins will flee as the Bottlenose can show aggressive behavior to their smaller cousins. It is virtually unheard of that these species live in close proximity.

Little did we know at the time but Billy, as he became known to the crew and passengers, was to become quite a celebrity. Since then we have seen Billy nearly every day, he always approaches the boat and plays around in the waves, often thrilling the passengers with spectacular acrobatic displays of leaps, flips and splashes.

It would appear that Billy has been adopted by this mixed pod of dolphins and he is now a permanent resident in the Bay of Gibraltar. He has clearly become a very trusted member of the group and is often seen babysitting young and even newborn calves, we have been unable to find another case like this anywhere in the world. During 2008 Billy was sighted on 74% of our sailings.

Billy the Bottlenose is unique and truly the star of the show

e-mail billy@dolphin.gi for his latest news and pictures or be his friend and share your pictures on Facebook - Billy Bottlenose