Cephalorhynchus commersonii
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
Commerson's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) is also referred to by the common names jacobita, skunk dolphin, piebald dolphin, panda dolphin, or tonina overa (in South America). It is a small oceanic dolphin of the genus Cephalorhynchus. Commerson's dolphin has two geographically isolated but locally common subspecies. The principal subspecies, C.c.commersonii, has sharply-delineated black-and-white patterning and is found around the tip of South America. The secondary subspecies, C.c.kerguelenensis, is larger than C.c.commersonii, has a less-sharply delineated dark and light grey patterning with a white ventral band, and is found around the Kerguelen Islands in the Indian Ocean.
The dolphin is named after French naturalist Dr. Philibert Commerson, who first described them in 1767 after sighting them in the Strait of Magellan. Two disjunct subspecies of the dolphin are found in geographically disparate areas separated by 130° of longitude and about 8,500 km (5,300 mi); it is not known why they are thus distributed. Global populations are unknown, but the species is accepted to be locally common.
The main subspecies, C.c.commersonii, is found inshore...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Falkland Islands | 🇫🇰 Falkland Islands |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium | 🇯🇵 Japan |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Commerson's Dolphin sighting in Falkland Islands on a given day, based on 80 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 7 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Commerson's Dolphin in Falkland Islands on a given day, against about 10% in April and May, the lowest months. July and August have too few records to rate.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Commerson'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 Falkland Islands, in our data
Falkland Islands is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Commerson's Dolphin sightings: about 50% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Commerson's Dolphin is recorded against all the mammals logged in Falkland Islands (80 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
