Cephalorhynchus heavisidii
Silhouette: Chris huh · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Heaviside's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus heavisidii) is one of six dolphins in the genus Cephalorhynchus. The small cetacean is endemic to the Benguela ecosystem along the southwest coast of Africa. Early in the 19th century, a specimen was caught off the Cape of Good Hope and brought to the United Kingdom by a Captain Haviside of the British East India Company. Zoologist John Edward Gray, who described the species in his Spicilegia Zoologica, misidentified Haviside as the surgeon John Heaviside, who was known for his own biological collections at the time. "Heaviside's dolphin" is the recognised common name, though amongst others, "Haviside's dolphin" and "Benguela dolphin" are also used, the latter especially in Namibia.
The genus name "Cephalorhynchus" comes from the Greek kephale for 'head' and rhynchos for 'beak'. For the species name "heavisidii" see the above description. The three other species in the genus Cephalorhynchus are the Chilean dolphin (C. eutropia), the Commerson's dolphin (C. commersonii) and the Hector's dolphin (C. hectori). All are located in cool temperate shelf waters... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Heaviside's Dolphin sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 31 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 15th most-seen of the 29 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and December–March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Heaviside's Dolphin in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in April–August and October–November, the lowest months. Those are among Cape Town's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain a month against 140 mm in June.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Heaviside's Dolphin sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Cape Town, in our data
Cape Town is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Heaviside's Dolphin sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Heaviside's Dolphin is recorded against all the mammals logged in Cape Town (31 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
