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Dolphin Gazette, DCP’S Quarterly Newsletter

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Dolphin Gazette, DCP’S Quarterly Newsletter VOLUME 17 ISSUE 4 2013 uRIMS tRIp...2 uDolphIn DISplay ConteSt....9 The Dolphin utootIe - ouR neweSt aDopt-a-DolphIn....10 gazette NEWSLETTER FOR THE DOLPHIN COMMUNICATION PROJECT The Dolphin Communication Project (DCP) is focused on the dual goals of scientific research and education. May your Holidays be festive ... and dolphin-filled! It is insane how swiftly 2014 has passed by ... it has been a blur! We have collected quite a bit of data (see the Bimini and the RIMS udpates)! We welcome ID#97 with her new name - Tootie! We also welcome Miles and Congratulate Kel and Al (see page 12). Justin’s book arrives to U.S. online stores on December 1 - check out the blurb related to his inspiring tome. I thoroughly enjoyed Justin’s book, use it as a teaching tool, and know you will enjoy it as well. We introduce a “Dolphin Adoption Display” photo contest. How do you share your support of DCP’s research off Bimini? That is, how do you let your friends and family know that you’ve adopted a dolphin? If you’ve not become an adoptive parent, check out page 11 to learn about the spotted dolphins around Bimini up for adoption (research support). Remember, these dolphin adoptions make great In this issue holiday gifts! Kathleen’s Fall trip to RIMS | Thank you all for your continued support! We look forward Bimini 2013 Update | Are Dolphins to sharing more with you as you read along. And, I hope R e a l l y Smart? | Tootie - our newest adopt-a-dolphin | Dolphin Display you have a happy holiday season! Photo Contest | The back-page p u z z l e r ! Kathleen Thank you to DCP Volunteers Internships & Interns!! Mailing Address If you are interested in interning with DCP would like to thank Nicole Danaher- DCP during a fall, spring or summer Dolphin Communication Project Garcia, Gillian Reily and Catie Tobin semester, more information is available 47 Main Street for all their help this fall. Without your on our website. Please note, most Unit #711 assistance, DCP’s data analysis could internships are office-based and do Old Mystic, CT 06372-0711 not run so smoothly. You do a great job NOT include field work. Check out the USA processing data and helping to keep things web site before contacting us at info@ organized. Well done! dcpmail.org. Kathleen’s 2013 RIMS adventure Submitted by Kathleen Dudzinski Seven “new” dolphins to DCP’s study group at RIMS! After a 2.5 year hiatus from visiting Roatan, I was pleased to visit RIMS and AKR during the last week of October, specifically 26 October - 2 November. This was not DCP’s “normal” eco-tour program but I was joined by eight individuals who have supported DCP’s, and my, research over the years. Some folks, like Bill S. and Ron, since 1992 and 1995, respectively. Ron’s niece, Madison, also joined us for her second visit to RIMS. Nicole, one of DCP’s Bimini summer interns, and her boyfriend, Nate, were part of our group. Rounding out our party was Bill M. and Dana, a colleague and friend of John’s. John was part of this trip too as he was collecting Kathleen deploying the SM2M with dolphin supervision! video to create an updated DCP research video at RIMS. Our team was very supportive and joined me within 30 min of sunrise to collect surface observations while I documented the dolphins with my MVA before their first feed each morning. My focus of our non-invasive protocol was to continue research into signal exchange and communication among dolphins. Having recently completed several detailed examinations of pectoral fin contact exchanges between dolphins at all of our field sites, I am now investigating the quality of dolphin social interactions in comparison to the typical method for understanding dolphin associations (via coefficients of association). In a sense, I am looking at how and when dolphins form their friendships. Thirty minutes of video with stereo audio were collected during each session for a total of six (6) hours of video collected during the week. We’ve already begun logging the first video for dolphin IDs and Nicole and I are also working on the sketches for each dolphin. The group at Bailey’s Key includes 19 dolphins. The adult females include Alita, Beasley, Carmella, Cedena, Gracie, Maury and Mika. Maury is Gracie’s adult daughter! Bailey is a subadult female while Polly, Tilly, Calli and Elli are young females. Hector, Han, Paya and Ronnie are the adult males - Hector and Han are buddies while Ronnie tries to hang out with Paya, though he’s more of a loner. The young males in the group include Champ, Lenca and Mac (the youngest at 3 months old!). The other dolphins from RIMS who we’ve studied over the years are still well but at different sites; these include Ritchie, Bill, French, Anthony, Fiona, Marg, Pigeon, Ken, Dixon, Vin, Mickey, and Cortez. The photo above shows one of the young dolphins supervising me as I deploy the SM2M+ for a week of data collection. Besides collecting data with my MVA, I also was lucky to deploy DCP’s newest research tool - the SM2M+ from Wildlife Acoustics. The unit was deployed for most of the week and yielded about 18 hours of acoustic data - day and night recordings of dolphin sounds and ambient sounds (including snapping shrimp!). See the next page for more details on the SM2M+ and Wildlife Acoustics. Our trip this year had more emphasis on research than education and was primarily supported by DCP’s first Fund-A-Geek fundraiser conducted during the summer months. A hearty THANK YOU to our sponsors: Karen, Clint, Amparo, Michael & D’Ann, Layla, James, Lance & Jeanne, Sunna, Bill, SilverHawk, Kathy, Jaap & Jolanda, Gregory, Jessica, Mindy, Donna & John, Ed and John! Your donations made this research trip for DCP possible! Thank you very much to DCP’s FUnd-A-Geek Sponsors! Cheers Kathleen 2 Wildlife Acoustics supports DCP Our research trip to RIMS included deployment of a passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) recorder. The SM2M+ is one of the newer PAM recorders from Wildlife Acoustics. Dudzinski deployed this PAM recorder, the Song Meter SM2M+ Marine recorder from Wildlife Acoustics. This device permits audio data recording on selected duty cycles and sample rates. For this recording session, the SM2M+ was loaded with a 10 min on/50 min off duty cycle and a 44.1 kHz sample rate. This translates to four (4) hours of data recorded per day: the SM2M+ was deployed on Monday (28 October) afternoon and was recovered on Friday (1 Nov) morning. Roughly 18 hours of data were collected and will be analyzed over the next 2-3 months. The photo on the previous page showcases the SM2M+ deployed at RIMS while the photo below represents DCP’s SM2M deployed off Bimini to record spotted dolphin and bottlenose dolphin vocal behavior. Check out Wildlife Acoustics’ Web site (link below) to read more about Wildlife Acoustic’s gear and to see Kathleen deploying the SM2M+ at RIMS ... with supervision, of course! http://www.wildlifeacoustics.com/products/song-meter-sm2-plus-submersible An SM2M device deployed off Bimini Scientists recently discovered a new species of humpback dolphin (pictured on the right) off the coast of Australia. “Based on the findings of our combined morphological and genetic analysis, we can suggest that the humpback dolphin genus includes at least four member species,” said Dr. Martin Mendez, one of the researchers involved in the research. “This discovery helps our understanding of the evolutionary history of this group and informs conservation policies to help safeguard each of the species.” 3 Update from the Field: Bimini 2013 End of Season Report Submitted by Kelly Melillo Sweeting Although we are deep into the fall, our effort off Bimini this summer will keep us busy for months to come. We began collecting data in March and had our last trip in late August for a total of 39 dolphin trip excursions, thanks to Sea Crest Hotel & Marina, with whom we continued to collaborate this year. We had 75 dolphin sightings, yielding 187 hours, 51 minutes of effort. We gathered data on dolphin movement patterns, sighting location, species, and group size whenever dolphins were found. When underwater observations were possible, we collected video and audio recordings using the MVA. Photographs were collected using digital still cameras. Surface photographs (primarily dorsal fins) were collected when bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were in view. We worked toward confirming individual dolphin identifications from video and photographic data when sea conditions prevented boat trips and when we had time before boat trips. So far, 16 individual Atlantic spotted dolphins have been confirmed from the photographs and video that have been reviewed. The confirmed IDs include Romeo (#10), Lil Jess (#35), Buster (#04), SplitJaw (#22), Leslie Tilly (#87) and Romeo (#10) playing with seaweed (#80), Prince William (#64), Stefran (#82), Swoosh (#36), Tilly (#87), Tim (#69), Tina (#14), Inka (#93), Speed (#78), and unnamed dolphins ID #99, #95, and #70. It is very likely that the number of confirmed spotted dolphin ID’s will increase, and previously un-identified individuals may be added to DCP’s photo-identification catalog, as the remaining video and photographic data are processed. Almost 60 GB of video was recorded and the remaining video & photos will be reviewed this fall/winter. All video and acoustic data and still photographs will be analyzed for individual associations, behavioral interactions, and for data related to ongoing research studies by DCP. Thanks to several conservation members to DCP, we sponsored and participated in three local beach clean-ups and plan to continue such activities in 2014.
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