Tuesday, May 25, 2010

This Week in Nature: The 4th week in May - Spinner dolphins

What's happening in Hawaii 
During the 4th week in May:


Spinner dolphins, (Stenella longirostris longirostris) are brilliant aerial performers, known especially for the long, spiraling leap that has given them their common English name. Spinners frequent calm, inshore waters of all the major Hawaiian islands, entering bays and other protected areas to rest after nights spent hunting in deeper waters. In May, probably because food is plentiful, they remain near shore longer that at other times of year - up to nine hours a day - so now is a good time to look for them in places like Kealakekua Bay on Hawaii, or at Mākua and Keawa'ula on the Waianae coast of Oahu.

Hawaiians may have distinguished among dolphin species, but all went under the same name nai'a. Their cleverness and dexterity won the nai'a such respect that some families regard them as 'aumākua. And if a person jumped to conclusions, another was apt to comment, "He nai'a, he i'a lele!" - "It is a dolphin, a leaping fish!"

Taken from "Hawaii: A Calendar of Natural Events"
published by the Bishop Museum and Kamehameha Schools in 1989

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