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Dolphins typically travel in groups of anywhere between 15 and 200 which are called pods.
What Mr Dutra spotted on Thursday however is best described as a super mega pod given the astonishing size of the group. He estimated that the trail of dolphins was seven miles long and five miles wide, and he was able to steer the boat alongside them for over an hour.
Experts are unable to pinpoint any specific reason as to why so many of the mammals were traveling together on this particular night.
Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by ollncasino
Any pictures of the fleets of fishing trawlers following them?
Whilst it would have been excellent to see, i think a pod that size would have freaked me out. Maybe it's my age, but as VasaCroe pointed out, i would have been thinking Hitch Hikers style!
Pod size appears to be related to the availability of food and the size and openness and depth of their environment. In areas of high food availability, pods can temporarily join together to form a "super pod", exceeding 1,000 dolphins. In deeper parts of the ocean there have been reports of super pods reaching over a mile in length, requiring merchant ships to stop while these pods pass safely by. More shallow areas of the ocean support pod sizes often less than 20 in number.
Originally posted by Hopechest
reply to post by Flavian
Well I hope your right but I've gone through pods in our families sailboat, no engine running, and they were slamming into the boat.
I'd hate to see anything happen to such wonderful creatures.