EDUCATION

One of the goals of the CDS is to educate young people about whales, dolphins and other forms of marine life. Based in Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route, the CDS headquarters act as a base for researchers and volunteers, but emphasis is placed on outreach programmes, where the CDS team use displays, bits and pieces of whales and/or dolphins, crafts and games to give insight into the local marine environment - using whales and dolphins as flagship species.

School children are invited to stand next to a 2m-long piece of Southern right whale baleen, hold a sperm whale tooth or piece together the bones of a dolphin skeleton - in jigsaw fashion.

Crafts and games, developed by volunteers, include marine variations of Monopoly, Twister, Snakes and Ladders, Trump Cards and many more. Recently tested on children from one of our local primary schools, a great morning was had by volunteers and children alike.

In this way, children are exposed to whale and dolphin conservation in an “edu-fun-cational” way.


Future plans include the development of a "Marine Mammal Interpretation Centre", on Vic and Debbie's farm in Harkerville, where children and other visitors can come and learn more about whale and dolphin biology, recent strandings on local beaches, research findings and lots of general information about marine life in the area, all aimed at promoting environmental education and awareness.

Volunteers and researchers are already developing displays for this new centre, including information boards, specimen exhibits and re-assembled skeletons. This will allow visitors to get 'up close and personal' with various whales and dolphins found along the southern African coast; and the research techniques used to study them.

Through regularly updated displays and exposure to appropriate “outdoor classrooms” and public lectures, we aim to provide an alternative educational and awareness raising experience.

If you would like to take part in our education programmes or get involved in any way, please contact us!

MARINE MAMMAL FUN FACTS!

· The killer whale is probably the fastest cetacean, reaching speeds of over 50km/h, 6 times faster than an Olympic swimmer. The blue marlin, the fastest fish, can reach a speed of up to 80km/h.

· Some whales can hear sounds more than 160km away

· A humpback whale can carry nearly half a ton of barnacles on its skin. Many barnacles prefer cooler waters and may drop off when the whale migrates to warmer waters during the breeding season.

· The main blood vessel of a sperm whale is big enough for a baby to crawl through!

· A sperm whale has the biggest brain on the planet at 9.09kg (a human brain is 0.9kg).

· A sperm whale’s head is big enough to fit an average-sized car inside.

· The bowhead whale has the largest mouth of all the cetaceans and has baleen plates over 4.5m long.

· A baby blue whale at birth is bigger than an adult black rhino. They grow very quickly and put on as much as 80kg a day!

· A killer whale is a dolphin, even although it can grow to 10m long.

· The blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived on our planet. The largest whale recorded was 33.85m, and the heaviest was 190 tons (the equivalent of 2,500 people).

· The Southern Right Whale is the fattest whale with nearly half of its body made up of blubber. This is why it rarely reaches speeds above 10km/h.

· Whales have 3 stomachs.

· A blue whale eats a million calories per day and only stops growing when it is 25-30 years old.

· The Spinner dolphin has as many as 260 teeth in its jaws.

· A sperm whale can dive as deep as 2 miles and hold its breath for 2 hours.

· When a whale resurfaces after a long, deep dive, its breath can be heard up to 1km away!