99% of anybody who had seen Istanbul would tell you that Istanbul is a city of cats and dogs. Well, it is difficult to oppose this argument, because almost on every street of Istanbul, there are either cats or dogs or both living friendly with each other.
However one of the ancient residents of this city are often forgotten, that is dolphins. It may be surprising but, if you are lucky, you can encounter with dolphins any time and any part of Istanbul’s Bosphorus. I clearly remember one time that I was stuck in a traffic jam for more than an hour, which supposed to take 10 minutes. Predictably, I felt stressed and bored about that, but astonishingly I saw 10-15 dolphins swimming close to the Sarayburnu area. It was a moment, that removed all negative thoughts.
Historians several times mentioned abundance of fish in Bosphorus and Golden Horn. Among these aquatic species, dolphins (yes, they are not fish but mammals) were one of the most populous ones. They were well-fed and inclined to get close to humans, therefore since ancient times, Istanbul citizens could interact with them easily. Even in 1950s, dolphins were accompanying each ship crossing Bosphorus. Unfortunately today, dolphins are not that inclined to get close to us. Their number reduced and they had difficulty of navigating due to one of the world’s busiest ship traffic.
Sometime ago, I was on the northern part of Istanbul, having a breakfast with a friend. We were lucky to see pods of dolphins, presumably making a total number of 60-80 of them. We cheerfully watched them pass by.
During the Covid lockdown, dolphins once again showed themselves in large numbers. Take a look at the Euronews video below to see them by yourself. Also Johannes Moths, a photographer in Istanbul, is taking amazing photographs and videos of these cute mammals. I highly recommend you to take a look at his works to see more content with Istanbul’s dolphins.
Sorry cats, but dolphins are the cutest residents of Istanbul 🙂
Video Source: Euronews
Image Source: Johannes Moths Instagram Account / Anadolu Agency
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