Adoption might be the nicest things that our human counterparts do but it is very rare amongst wild mammals. But in a cute case, a mother dolphin has taken adoption to a whole new level.
For the first time ever, a new research has revealed that a wild bottlenose dolphin mom has adopted a melon-head whale calf in the coastal waters of French Polynesia.
The researchers spotted this bottlenose dolphin nursing an unusual male calf along with its own offspring in 2014. After a while they figured out the different body structure of the calf and found out that it was a whale, which is a completely different species.
We were really excited to be able to witness such a rare phenomenon.
According to researchers, the melon-head calf has also completely adapted himself to the dolphin society. It not only socialized with the fellow bottlehead dolphins but would also communicate with them and go for jumping and surfing along with them.
The melon-headed whale was behaving exactly the same way as bottlenose dolphins.
Female bottlenose dolphins are generally known to steal babies of other species but that is very short-lived. But the researchers mentioned that this might not be the case since the bottlehead dolphin already had a little dolphin.
Reportedly, the family of three lived together for about one and a half years until the biological offspring disappeared. However, this adorable adopted calf whale stuck by for nearly three more years more with its dolphin mother.
