SECOND UPDATE ON THE DOLPHIN DRIVE HUNTS IN TAIJI, JAPAN - 30 NOVEMBER 2014 Here are the photos of the two white Rissos captured last week. The following is exactly what I have been pondering since the second one was captured on the 28th of November [these people definitely read my mind!]: Jo Phillips: After examination will it be discovered that they may possibly have come from a single large pod - that has abnormal shift in DNA? Ceta Base: With two animals captured so closely together it could be possible they were from the same pod or social group, given they are so close in age I dont think they would have the same mother, but possibly a breeding male throwing these recessive characteristics. Purely speculative though. TWM will perform genetic testing and I am sure they will follow up through their blog, it will just take time. I cannot help but wonder if these two got separated when an entire pod was broken up by the hunting boats with one group escaping while the other was driven into the cove. Anyway, it really bothers me that the museum would perform some testing on the already-stressed Rissos while theyre held captive! If the Japanese government really cared about free-ranging cetaceans, I am sure the government would have funded extensive research on cetacean populations in the Japanese waters. Who knows, a field researcher would stumble upon a large pod of Rissos that includes a few with partial albinism! Getting to know the most unique cetaceans WOULD NOT require any invasive methods! Plenty of photography and observations would do while maintaining a safe distance from cetaceans! Anyway, if both Rissos have dark eyes, they are most likely leucistic [which the first captured one with the patch is most likely]. One of their parents may have carried the recessive gene. Leucistic creatures can have patches with normal coloring, lighter color than normal, and partial pigmentation. I mentioned in one of my posts about the Chédiak–Higashi Syndrome and hope many of you read it. I will have to find out if these two are the same. By no means am I a marine biologist, I am just offering my thoughts on how different these two Rissos are from the rest of their groups. LAURICE.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 10:18:32 +0000
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