Katherine DeStefano Undergraduate Research Thesis, Northeastern University

Katherine’s project is for her senior honors thesis at Northeastern University, and is focusing on the nature of Atlantic spotted dolphin play behavior and its occurrence in the wild. The following questions will be addressed in her thesis: how often play behavior occurs, based on our observations; if and how environmental factors, such as time of day, weather and water quality, influence the instance of dolphin play behaviors; if play behavior correlates with the age, sex, or relationship among dolphins in a particular group; if the presence of a particular individual dolphin influences the probability of play behavior occurring. In addition, a comprehensive definition of dolphin play and the behaviors involved is being developed to assist with future research on this topic.