Samu the Baby Dolphin | Dolphins of Shark Bay | BBC Earth

with Puck's new baby due soon India's days with the beaches are numbered across the bay most of the females have already had their carves timing their arrival to well before the big sharks arrive Puck's baby is dangerously late over the next month tiger shark numbers will increase tenfold as they head south to their hunting grounds in the bay for Puck's C to stand the best chance of surviving she needs to have it soon newborns are easy prey by late morning Puck is leading her family into the mon

key meia Flats it's one of their favorite places to fish and where their nickname the beaches comes from most Dolphins only hunt in deep water but the beaches family are shallow water experts Puck's enormous belly prevents her joining the hunt bouncing along the seabed she risks getting stranded got the whole Puck family going after this big school of mullet they've just been chasing it closer and closer to the shore Puck's not going all the way to the beach cuz she's too big with belly swollen

to more than three times its normal size Puck Retreats into the safety of deeper water and wisely waits for the family to return it's every dolphin for themselves as they chase down their prey there they go right into the beach reaching speeds of up to 30 kmph Puck Sun India chases the sh towards the shore oh yeah had some serious hunting here it's high risk in this shallow water India could easily strand I saw India catch a big one again he's a good [Applause] Hunter everything the beaches do i

s recorded in minute detail across Shark Bay Janet's research team follow different families of dolphins she's found the Bay's females Liv in very specific areas and each has adapted how they hunt to best exploit their environment off the rocky shores to the north live the surfer mums who've gone to even greater extremes than the beaches chasing their prey right onto the beach to the south in the Deep channels there are dolphins that show just how intelligent they are by using tools the females

here wear sponges on their beaks it's thought they use them to protect themselves while feeling around for food on the seabed they're the only Dolphins ever recorded using tools Shark Bay is the only place in the world where dolphins hunt in such diverse and unique ways Puck could be the first wild dolphin whose entire life story is known 3 weeks later and Puck is still waiting for her baby to be born today she's out hunting alone these Grassy Meadows are exceptionally Rich feeding grounds but i

t's dangerous hunting out [Music] here the tiger sharks are arriving and this is their favorite place to feed a stealth Hunter it uses the cover of the seagrass to creep up on its prey Puck needs to watch [Music] out as she searches in the seagrass she'll be unaware of any shark approaching if a tiger shark closes in from behind her sonar can cannot detect [Applause] it distracted Puck could easily be [Music] [Applause] attacked once detected Puck can easily outswim a shark but when her calf arr

ives it won't be so easy for her to escape it gets very shallow in here this is the low tide too dongs mother and a calf oh look at this little baby look at that more than 10,000 dongs live in Shark Bay it's the largest population in the world grazing on the grass beds they're the most vulnerable to shark attacks in the shallows they have less room to maneuver the calf swims on top of its mom that way it's protected from the tiger sharks which could make a good meal of a Duong calf much slower s

wimming than Dolphins thousands of dugong carves are taken by the Sharks every summer got dolphins and dongs together here hey Puck oh you are wide looking for Clues as to when Puck might give birth Janet lowers a special microphone into the water oh a whistle I thought I heard a whistle there something extraordinary is happening Puck uses her unique call to identify herself to other Dolphins yet strangely there are no other Dolphins around Janet believes Puck is calling to her unborn Cal if she

's right it's an astonishing Discovery she's basically advertising to the Cal I'm your mom I'm your mom hear me hear me and uh hopefully the baby then knows where to go after it's born Puck only calls to her unborn Cal when she's alone Janet suspects this happens in the week before the calf is born she thinks the birth is imminent Park is about to become a mother for the eighth time the labor could take several more hours with the light fading the team reluctantly head back to [Music] base no on

e knows where dolphins go to have their carves but that night somewhere in the bay Puck gives [Music] birth the beaches family have a new [Music] arrival [Music] Puck's precious eighth calf is a boy named Samy no more than a few hours old the baby instinctively Shadows his mom's every move [Music] Samu calls continuously to her as if to say I'm here I'm [Music] here in the first hours of Sam's life he is on a huge Landing C less than a meter long Samu must first Perfect The Art of breathing and

swimming bobbing up and down suu's movements are jerky and [Music] uncoordinated his tiny dorsal fin is still floppy from being squashed up inside mom Puck doesn't let her baby out of her sight for a [Music] second until now Puck has chosen to be alone with Samu perhaps giving him time to adjust to his new [Music] world [Music] then something remarkable happens as the rest of the beaches family start to arrive as if to celebrate Puck's daughters and grandchildren the Gathering to welcome the you

ngster into this close-knit [Music] family whether she called them in will never be known but at last the rest of the Beach's family meet little [Music] [Applause] Sammy with her family around her Puck can afford to relax knowing their safety and [Music] numbers 3 days pass and the research team is one once again out looking for the beaches they catch up with Puck and Samu as she leads him out into deep water for the first time it's his first Big Challenge deep water is a much more dangerous pla

ce for samur he could easily get lost he's still learning his mother's call sensing the danger Samu stays close to her side mirroring her every move as he swept along in Puck slipstream s seems a little bit more coordinated today a little less skittish keeping up well with Mom normally calvs can only dive a meter or so in their first week of life but samon is diving deeper and for longer than any other calf the researchers have seen before it's a good sign with Samu doing so well Park is finally

able to start fishing again she heads for a bait ball mothers lose a lot of weight in the first weeks of their Cal's life while pu's nurses she needs to increase her food intake by 50% later that afternoon something very unexpected happens as visitors from across the bay start arriving mothers and calves from at least three different families are gathering to meet [Music] Samu just how the news of the birth traveled so far and how only the mums with their cves know where to come is [Music] unkn

own but just as the beaches family seemed to welcome Puck and Samu the Bay's other mums seem to want to do the [Music] same it's suu's first chance to meet other baby carves but Young females also are drawn to the Gathering fascinated by newborns these wannabe moms often try to lure them a away to play with so many dolphins all Milling together it's a challenge for Puck to keep track of salmon he is extremely sensitive to motion it's how he knows how to follow his mom until he's learned her call

there's a risk Samu will chase any fast moving dolphin that comes close a mischievous young female deliberately rushes past Sam knowing the newborn will instinctively follow another female looks to be stealing she's trying to take Santa W Puck is having none of it it's the only time female dolphins ever show aggression towards each other rushing past Samu is the only way Puck can retrieve [Music] him the young female meant no harm to Samu but Puck isn't taking any more chances and leads him awa

y to safety it's now late summer and 4 months since suu's [Music] birth shark numbers are still at their Peak across the bay they've been feasting on scores of Duong and dolphin [Music] calves has Samu survived his first most critical months Janet is out on patrol looking for Puck and her baby she catches up with the family on the monkey me Flats I'm just really anxious to see them you know oh look there's Samu and finally she sees Samu not only is he thriving but he has a new playmate this is e

xciting we have the whole Puck family [Music] here here come the kids [Music] Hello Samu is now almost a meter long he's looking very strong [Music] his young Playmate was born shortly after [Music] him look at them they're best Pals they are best Pals but as Puck passes the boat the team get a stark reminder of just how much much danger she and the family are facing oh she has a shark bite did you see that did you see that scar oh I see that's new one that's new big shark it's in the same side

as our previous shark bite looks like whatever happened she got in the way of the tiger shark or something the calf looks fine it's highly likely Puck took the bite protecting little Samu dolphin moms will risk their lives to protect their cves they noticed this morning that puck has a a good siiz shark bite scar but she's healed up they heal remarkably fast and there's not a mark on seu so obviously he remains unscathed but since nearly 80% of the Dolphins here have shark bite scars he's bound

to get one sooner or later Puck's choice of this shallow Sandy Bay is no chance it's the safest place for Samu to play during a shark season like this it's a perfect spot shallow beautiful water you can see everything around you big Tigers shows up they'll be able to see a few miles away look at him he's a cutie now Samu is 4 months old Puck allows him a lot more freedom while his mom snoozes Janet is watching Samu she sees something she's never seen before Samu joins up with one of Puck's grand

daughters the young female appears to be giving him fishing lessons look she's got the little fish and she's like showing her she's like knocking little Samu with her little fish in her mouth oh and she's letting it going ahead of her again she let it go she's catching it it does look like she's showing him she is repeatedly catching and dropping an injured fish in front of Samu she keeps grabbing it very closely in front of him like this is how you grip it it almost looks like she's showing him

how to grip it it's the first time Janet has ever seen Behavior like this that was the closest I've seen to teaching so far what is so exci exeptional is that the young female appears to be consciously showing Samu how to catch a fish examples of teaching in the animal kingdom are very very rare if Puck's granddaughter really is teaching Samu it's strong evidence of how self-aware and intelligent dolphins are another 4 weeks pass [Music] and there's a familiar face Puck's Wayward Son India is b

ack the pull of the family is too strong for the moment Puck tolerates his return letting him hang out with the [Music] family young Samu plays with his older brother while he can but the day will soon come when India will have to go for good winter has returned to Shark Bay the waters are cooling and the Tiger Sharks are finally leaving I really like May because things are calming down the sharks are gone and the males and females actually have some nice interactions they're not the males aren'

t harassing the females like they do 6 to 8 months out of the year with the big sharks finally gone Samu has survived the most dangerous first few months of his life seeing Samu growing up so strong and independent bodess well for his [Music] future he is already showing all the signs of becoming one of the Bay's top males but one day he too will have to leave the loving companionship of the beaches at 33 years old Puck's long rain of the beaches will soon come to an [Music] end this wonderful d

olphin has taught Janet more than any [Music] other a wise and gentle mother Puck shown her children how to survive in the Dangerous Waters of Shark Bay and shown us the richness of dolphin family lives if we just choose to look beneath the surface