Dolphin and porpoise pairing seen in Newquay and St Ives

A wildlife charity is asking people in north Cornwall to keep an eye out for a "very unusual marine pairing".

Whale and dolphin charity ORCA reported two separate sightings of bottlenose dolphins interacting with a lone harbour porpoise.

The charity believe the porpoise has joined the dolphin's pod, which was unusual due to the mammals not historically getting along.

ORCA's head of Science & Conservation said it was a very rare pairing.

"While they share the same habitat, porpoises tend to steer clear of dolphins, so to see them playing and sticking together over such a long period is a really rare event," Lucy Babey said.

The charity said bottlenose dolphins "often aggressively attack their smaller harbour porpoise cousins", playing with them "like a football".

However, the paired pod have been spotted "enjoying acrobatic games" between Newquay and St Ives.

Terry Carne, ORCA marine mammal surveyor, said he witnessed the pod interacting with the porpoise.

He said: "I assumed that the porpoise was trying to escape, and when I saw it leap in the air I thought the bottlenose had struck it.

"But actually what I saw was the porpoise breaching with the dolphins, initially forward leaps, before seeing it jump high in the air."

Anna Bunney, from ORCA, said people watching could differentiate the two mammals from the size of their beaks.

She said: "What you want to look for is the shape of the face and the shape of the dorsal fin, dolphins have a really large, thick beak, that's their mouth.

"Harbour porpoises, they don't have that long beak, they have very small beaks."

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