Soursop is an extremely congenial personality within the social unit. Even as a first time mother in 2018, she maintained a relaxed, connected and sociable disposition despite the added responsibility. This could have been due to the involvement of her mother Fruitsalad in the immediate care of her calf Ariel.

In addition to her amicable nature among members of her social group, Soursop has been exceptionally outgoing and cooperative with us ever since we met her in 2012. That year she allowed us to swim alongside her for an extended period, intentionally tempering her pace to enable human observation as she kept steady eye contact with us.

Over the years she has sustained her receptiveness to our presence and sometimes angles her path to swim close to us. As expected, she was focused primarily on her months-old calf in 2018, but the following year she warmed up to us and instigated several swim-along encounters as she swam parallel to Ariel on the surface.

In late 2021 the social dynamic of the unit was in the process of shifting to accommodate new calves and Soursop’s role was as yet undefined. She is still nursing Ariel, who is nearly weaned, and the mother-calf pair often swim together when the group travels.