 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Earthwatch Institute Dolphin Monitoring Program: Sarasota Dolphin Community Status
We have been able to continue our year-round monthly monitoring of the Sarasota dolphin community thanks to support from Earthwatch volunteers. The Sarasota bottlenose dolphin community is the most thoroughly known free-ranging dolphin population under study in the world. We continue to address increasingly refined questions about the lives of these animals with the benefit of information gained through our intensive year-round studies of the distribution, social and reproductive patterns of these animals. Photographic identification surveys were conducted on 108 days from October 2003 through October 2004 with the assistance of 39 Earthwatch volunteers from 17 states and 4 countries. These volunteers contributed over 2,100 hours to our project. During the past year, we had 678 group sightings that totaled 2,330 dolphins (including resighted animals). Our average number of sightings per day and dolphins per sighting have remained fairly constant throughout the past several years. We averaged 6 sightings per day with about 3 or 4 dolphins per sighting. During this same time period, our annual average of the number of dolphins sighted per day was slightly lower, at 21.6, than in the previous four years (which averaged 22.5 dolphins/day). We had a high of 17 sightings in one day during a July 2004 survey and a high of 71 dolphins on the same day. We documented the births of ten new calves during the spring/summer of 2004 while monitoring the Sarasota dolphin community. Big Shout and FB 55 had their second calves while Pecan Sandie and Claire had their fourth. Killer was both a new mother and new grandmother this year; she and her eight year old daughter, Lizzie, were both seen with new calves in early June. Other new mothers include FB 54, FB 79, FB 93, and “Pi look-a-like”. “Pi look-a-like” has been seen off and on in Sarasota Bay since 2001. She returned in June shortly before giving birth in July. All of these calves (except FB 54’s calf who is missing) were doing well as of this writing. Since January 2004, one of the 1999 and five of the 2002 calves have been examined and sampled during health assessment operations. Moonfin look-a-like, FB 175, and FB 65 had sons while Saida Beth, Pumpkin, and Merrily had daughters. We also examined Fat Top, a female we have sighted since 1983, Fat Top’s two year old calf, and another female initially sighted in 2001. During the past year, we lost three long-term Sarasota Bay community members. Bar Dot, a female seen since 1989, died following complications from a stingray barb puncture to her left lung. Bobby Jo (RP 27), a 13-year-old female, died in July. She was orphaned at only 16 months and survived to have two calves of her own. Her first, Annie, is now 6 and doing well. Her second is only 2, but we hope that she will be as strong as her mother was in the same situation. Rose, a 14-year-old female, died in August and is also survived by a young calf (~15 months). We have seen her calf twice since it was orphaned and it appears to be doing well. Through our Earthwatch-sponsored surveys, we have accounted over 90% of the Sarasota community members. As of October 2004, the number of dolphins regularly using Sarasota Bay and the surrounding waters stands at approximately 160 animals.
From left: Stormy, FB 165, Pup's 2002 calf, FB 138, Pup, and FB 228 traveling together during a sighting in August 2004. To sign up for the "Wild Dolphin Societies" Earthwatch expedition for a two week period of time, contact:
Earthwatch Institute |
|
||
 |
|
 |
| All design and content Copyright ©2003 - 2008 Sarasota Dolphin Research Program. |