UK television channel to air documentary on Dominica’s whales

Twenty-one of the world's 33 species of whales and dolphins have been seen around the island.

London, United Kingdom -- The United Kingdom’s Channel Four television has announced plans to air a new whale-watching documentary set in Dominica, later this year. Jimmy Doherty, the popular host of television’s Jimmy’s Farm will star alongside Inside Nature's Giants' star Joy Reidenberg in the 90 minute documentary.

According to the producers, the documentary will explore the relationship between whales and the people of Dominica and show how the two interact.

Another feature of the documentary will be chronicling the secret lives of the whales seen largely through the eyes of Andrew Armour. The Dominican native has been called the ‘whale whisperer' for his ground breaking work with the giant creatures.

Dominica is considered to be the whale watching capital of the Caribbean. Tours to see the whales have an incredibly high success rate. Further, it is the only country in the world to have sperm whales resident in its waters all year round; and twenty-one other species of whale and dolphin of the world’s 33 species have also been spotted around the island. They can be seen plunging to depths of over 6 000 ft just a short distance from the mountainous island.

Just last year a group of researchers from the Dominica Sperm Whale Project of the h Dalhousie University in Halifax closely followed one group of sperm whales, called the "group of seven," made up of four sisters, their aunt and two juvenile males, as they fed, played and cruised off the coast of Dominica.

The researchers determined that the group of whales had developed a distinctive style of communicating that was differentiable from the sounds made by whales elsewhere in the world.