New member of the dolphin family

This baby dolphin, photographed off Piran, is the newest addition to our dolphin population. It was born very recently and is likely less than two months old.

Photo: Tilen Genov, Morigenos

Novi član delfinje družine

Tale delfinji mladiček, ki smo ga fotografirali nedaleč od Pirana, je najnovejša pridobitev naše delfinje populacije. Skotil se je šele nedavno in je verjetno star manj kot dva meseca. 

Foto: Tilen Genov, Morigenos

Japan Dolphin Day

September 1st marks the beginning of the dolphin drive hunting season in Taiji, Japan, where thousands of dolphins are slaughtered every year. To raise public awareness about the issue, a series of events will take place all over the world. In support of the international Japan Dolphin Day, Morigenos, with the help of local community, is organizing a screening of the Oscar winning documentary The Cove, followed by a public discussion. 

The event will take place in the Georgios center (IX. Korpus Street nr. 25, entrance from Adamičeva Street) in Piran at 20:30, entrance is free of charge. We look forward to meeting you there!

Japonski dan delfinov

1. September predstavlja začetek lovske sezone na delfine v Taijiu na Japonskem, kjer vsako leto pobijejo na tisoče delfinov. Z namenom ozaveščanja javnosti bo na ta dan po vsem svetu potekalo veliko različnih dogodkov. V podporo mednarodnega Japonskega dneva delfinov, bo društvo Morigenos s podporo lokalne skuponsti organiziralo ogled z Oskarjem nagrajenega dokumentarnega filma Skriti zaliv in javno razpravo. 

Dogodek bo potekal v centru Georgios (Ulica IX. korpusa 25, vhod na Adamičevi ulici) v Piranu, ob 20:30 uri. Vstop je prost. Veselimo se srečanja z vami!

How many dolphins do you see?

How many dolphins do you see in the photo? Well, this particular group, encountered yesterday and the day before off Piran, contained 55 to 60 dolphins (obviously not all of them are on the photo)! It is the biggest group we've ever encountered in these waters. Thanks to our fisherman friend Baja, who initially saw them and called us!

Photo: Tilen Genov, Morigenos

Koliko delfinov vidite?

Koliko delfinov vidite na sliki? V tej skupini, ki smo jo včeraj in predvčerajšnjim srečali nedaleč od Pirana, je bilo 55 do 60 delfinov (vsi seveda niso na sliki)! To je največja skupina, ki smo jo doslej srečali v teh vodah. Iskrena hvala našemu prijatelju, ribiču Baji, ki jih je prvi opazil in nas poklical!

Foto: Tilen Genov, Morigenos

Animal migrations: topic of the month in Gea magazine

Many animal species make incredible migrations. Each year, again and again. Some over short distances, others across half of the world. Some birds and marine mammals travel several thousand kilometers in one direction and then return to the same place. Next year they repeat the entire journey. But how do we know all this? How do we study animal migrations? Tilen Genov and Tina Centrih from Morigenos reviewed the monitoring of animal migrations in the August issue of Gea magazine: Gea topic of the month

Živalske selitve: tema meseca v reviji Gea

Mnoge živalske vrste izvajajo neverjetne migracije. Vsako leto, znova in znova. Nekatere na kratke razdalje, druge čez pol sveta. Nekateri ptiči in morski sesalci vsako leto prepotujejo več tisoč kilometrov v eno smer, se čez nekaj mesecev vrnejo na isto območje, naslednje leto pa celotno zadevo ponovijo. Toda kako vse to vemo? Kako spremljamo živalske migracije? Tilen Genov in Tina Centrih iz društva Morigenos v avgustovski številki revije Gea pišeta o monitoringu živalskih migracij: tema meseca v reviji Gea

The Big Boys

Morigenos »arsenal« for land-based surveying of dolphins recently got a valuable new addition. With the kind support of OceanCare, we were able to buy BigEyes – very powerful binoculars that enable us to detect dolphins over much longer distances and cover a larger portion of our study area from the land observation point. This means that detection rates can be improved and fewer animals missed just by chance. Moreover, such binoculars can enable us to study behavioural responses of dolphins to approaching boats, even when they are further offshore. We've been using BigEyes extensively for the past month and they have already proven very useful: several dolphin groups spotted and lots of new data collected. Thank you OceanCare! And yes, we call them BIG BOYS.

Big Boys

Društvo Morigenos ima novo pridobitev za opazovanje in spremljanje delfinov z obale. Zahvaljujoč prijazni podpori organizacije OceanCare smo pridobili BigEyes – izredno močan daljnogled, ki nam omogoča delfine zaznati na mnogo večje razdalje in tako z obale pokriti mnogo večji del našega območja raziskovanja. Na ta način lahko izboljšamo iskanje delfinov in manj živali zgrešimo zgolj po naključju. Takšna oprema nam omogoča tudi preučevanje vedenjskih odzivov delfinov na prisotnost plovil, tudi ko so daleč od obale. Daljnogled BigEyes smo v zadnjem mesecu veliko uporabljali in že se je pokazal kot izredno koristen: našli smo več skupin delfinov in zbrali veliko novih podatkov. Hvala OceanCare! In ja, daljnogledu smo nadeli vzdevek BIG BOYS.

Sunfish

During one of our recent surveys we received a call about an unusual finding – someone has found a strange (unfortunately dead) fish. People who found it told us they believed it to be an ocean sunfish (Mola mola). Luckily we were nearby, so we managed to locate the fish and confirm that the initial species identification was correct. It was more than one meter long. Even though fish are not the focus of our research we were very glad that the finders called us, because such cases are very important to properly document. The ocean sunfish is predominantly an ocean dwelling species that is seldom found in the northern Adriatic. Only about ten cases have been documented in the Gulf of Trieste in the last 20 years. We collected the fish and informed our colleagues from the Marine Biology Station and the Slovenian Museum of Natural History, that were understandably very interested in the case.

Morski mesec

Nedavno smo v času terenskega dela prejeli klic o nenavadni najdbi – nekdo je v Simonovem zalivu pred Izolo našel (žal mrtvo) nenavadno ribo. Že najditelji so sklepali, da gre za vrsto morski mesec (Mola mola). Na srečo smo bili v bližini, zato smo ribo tudi sami hitro našli in potrdili, da gre res za omenjeno vrsto. V dolžino je merila več kot en meter. Čeprav se z ribami raziskovalno ne ukvarjamo, smo veseli, da so nas najditelji poklicali, saj je tovrstne primere koristno dokumentirati. Morski mesec je namreč predvsem oceanska vrsta, ki se v severnem Jadranu pojavlja razmeroma redko, v zadnjih dveh desetletjih pa je bilo v Tržaškem zalivu zabeleženih le okoli deset primerkov. Žival smo zato vzeli in o najdbi obvestili kolege z Morske biološke postaje in Prirodoslovnega muzeja Slovenije, ki jih tovrstne najdbe zelo zanimajo.

Tilen Genov receives the Kavčič Award

Tilen Genov from Morigenos has received the Kavčič Award for the best short article in the journal Proteus. Each year the Slovenian Society for Natural History gives the award to the most successful young writers of natural science articles. In 2012, the award was shared by Tilen Genov for the article Insights into the interesting lives of »Slovenian« dolphins and Jernej Turnšek for the article Slovenian success at the competition in biomolecular design BIOMOD 2011. Both pieces have been published in the April issue of the journal Proteus.

Tilen Genov prejel Kavčičevo nagrado

Tilen Genov iz društva Morigenos je prejel Kavčičevo nagrado za najboljši kratki naravoslovni prispevek v reviji Proteus. Nagrado, ki jo Prirodoslovno društvo Slovenije vsako leto podeljuje najbolj uspešnim mladim piscem poljudnih naravoslovnih besedil, sta si v letu 2012 razdelila Tilen Genov za besedilo Vpogled v zanimivo življenje »slovenskih« delfinov in Jernej Turnšek za besedilo Slovenski uspeh na tekmovanju iz biomolekularnega dizajna BIOMOD 2011. Obe besedili sta bili objavljeni v aprilski številki revije Proteus.