Dear Marmam and ECS members, We hope you all keep being well, healthy and busy with interesting projects. /*You may wish to watch our new, ~4.5 min video with aerial and underwater views as well as many photos from the amazing mixed-species dolphin society in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece that we discovered and study since 1995.*/ You are free to share the video in your social media, if you wish: https://youtu.be/1lUhjckyOYg <https://youtu.be/1lUhjckyOYg> *Abstract:* Amazing things happen in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece! The mixed-species society of its dolphins is world-wide unique in many ways. Since 1995 the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute has been conducting surveys to study these dolphins and made fantastic discoveries. The Gulf of Corinth is the only place in the world, where striped dolphins live in a semi-enclosed gulf, isolated from larger seas or oceans! Together with common dolphins and Risso's dolphins, they form a permanent mixed-species dolphin society. Such a permanent symbiosis has never been observed anywhere else in the world. Given the genetic distances among the three species, it is like if humans lived in a mixed-species society with chimpanzees and gorillas! During a recent survey in 2023 new amazing observations were made: 1) We re-sighted the same individual of Risso's dolphin 26 years after its first observation in 1997, 2) We recorded a unique striped dolphin with thumbs on both its pectoral fins, 3) A female common dolphin had adopted or kidnapped a striped dolphin newborn and was lactating it. The Gulf of Corinth is an IMMA (Important Marine Mammal Area at the global scale) and a Natura2000 area. Nevertheless, no conservation measures have been taken so far and such an isolated dolphin society is very fragile to environmental changes and human activities. We wish to thank for their support: The PlasticHeal Consortium (EC funded) - https://www.plasticheal.eu/en OceanCare (Switzerland) - https://www.oceancare.org If you like this video, you may also watch our two previous short videos on Cuvier's beaked whales, sperm whales and striped dolphins from the area of the Hellenic Trench IMMA. The videos are available at the following Youtube links: *A sperm whale family in action, Hellenic Trench, Greece (~3 min)* https://youtu.be/nUK_6bkvHM8 <https://youtu.be/nUK_6bkvHM8> *Hellenic Trench, Surveys 2019-2020 (~3 min)* https://youtu.be/K3bkhu4dR3Q <https://youtu.be/K3bkhu4dR3Q> Best wishes, Alexandros -- __________________________________________________________ Dr. Alexandros Frantzis Scientific director Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute Terpsichoris 21 16671 Vouliagmeni, GREECE Tel.: +30-210-8960108 e-mail:afrantzis@otenet.gr website:http://www.pelagosinstitute.gr https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyp-eiteK0GBb0Lr5psk0g __________________________________________________________ -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus