The Dolphin Pod (new feed)

Dolphin communication, cookie cutter sharks, dolphin news (Episode 10)

The Dolphin Communication Project — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:17:00 -0500

In this week's episode, we will review breaking Dolphin News from around the world, focus our Science Spotlight on dolphin communication, and in our Kids' Science Quickie, we'll discuss cookie cutter sharks

File Download (28:41 min / 40.35 MB)

Dolphin personalities, dolphin mittens (flippers), dolphin news (Episode 9)

The Dolphin Communication Project — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:17:00 -0500

In this week's episode, we will review breaking Dolphin News from around the world, focus our Science Spotlight on dolphin personalities, and in our Kids' Science Quickie, we'll discuss dolphin mittens

File Download (33:39 min / 23.6 MB)

Dolphins and whales in the Middle Ages, magnetite, dolphin news (Episode 8)

The Dolphin Communication Project — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:17:00 -0500

In this week's episode, we will review breaking Dolphin News from around the world, focus our Science Spotlight on dolphins and whales in the Middle Ages, and in our Kids' Science Quickie, we'll discuss magnetite

File Download (27:03 min / 18.5 MB)

Dolphin sleep behavior, dolphin teeth, dolphin news (Episode 7)

The Dolphin Communication Project — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 04:17:00 -0500

In this week's episode, we will review breaking Dolphin News from around the world, focus our Science Spotlight on Dolphin Sleep, and in our Kids' Science Quickie, we'll discuss how you can tell how old a dolphin is by looking at its teeth

File Download (40:41 min / 27.9 MB)

The truth about Dolphin Assisted Therapy, pink dolphins, news (Episode 6)

The Dolphin Communication Project — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 04:17:00 -0500

In this week's episode, we will review breaking Dolphin News from around the world, focus our Science Spotlight Dolphin Assisted Therapy, and in our Kids' Science Quickie, we'll discuss pink dolphins

File Download (42:04 min / 28.9 MB)

The all new Dolphin Pod, Episode 5

The Dolphin Communication Project — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 04:17:00 -0500

In this week's episode, we will review breaking Dolphin News from around the world, focus our Science Spotlight humpack whale echolocation, and in our Kids' Science Quickie, we'll discuss Pelorus Jack

File Download (10:02 min / 6.01 MB)

The all new Dolphin Pod, Episode 4

The Dolphin Communication Project — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 09:17:00 -0500

In this week's episode, we will discuss how you can help conserve dolphin species, review breaking Dolphin News from around the world, focus our Science Spotlight on the Amazon River dolphin, and in our Kids' Science Quickie, we'll discuss colorful dolphinss

File Download (12:42 min / 8.73 MB)

The all new Dolphin Pod, Episode 3

The Dolphin Communication Project — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:17:00 -0500

In this week's episode, we will discuss whale and dolphin watching with biologist Fabian Ritter, review breaking Dolphin News from around the world, focus our Science Spotlight on dolphin buoyancy, and in our Kids' Science Quickie, we'll discuss hairy dolphins

File Download (15:01 min / 10.3 MB)

The all new Dolphin Pod, Episode 2

The Dolphin Communication Project — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:17:00 -0500

In this week's episode, we will talk with Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski about the upcoming conference on marine mammalogy in Cape Town, review breaking Dolphin News from around the world, focus our Science Spotlight on a behavior known as Spy Hopping, and in our Kids' Science Quickie, we'll discuss surfing dolphins.

File Download (14:30 min / 19.9 MB)

The all new Dolphin Pod, Episode 1

The Dolphin Communication Project — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:17:00 -0500

This is our first episode for the new and improved version of The Dolphin Pod. In this week’s episode, we will unveil the new dolphin pod format, review breaking Dolphin News from around the world, focus our Science Spotlight on the top 5 myths about dolphins, and in our new Kids’ Science Quickie, introduce you to a blind teenager who uses echolocation like a dolphin in order to navigate his surroundings.

File Download (12:23 min / 8.7 MB)

The Dolphin Pod Relaunch Coming Soon

The Dolphin Communication Project — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 09:17:00 -0500

Hello dolphin pod listeners. You may have noticed that episodes have not been released all that frequently in recent months. It's not because we here at the dolphin pod have lost interest – quite the contrary. We have been working on a brand new look and feel to the dolphin pod, together with an upgrade to our recording equipment. We are also hammering out plans for a new sponsorship scheme so that we can bring you improved dolphin science information and news on a more regular basis. So stay tuned as we roll out the new changes! If you have any ideas or suggestions for improvements to the podcast, please drop us a line at www.thedolphinpod.com

File Download (1:29 min / 1.4 MB)

Dolphin Vocalizations

The Dolphin Communication Project — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:52:00 -0500

Learn all about dolphin vocalizations and dolphin sounds in this week’s episode, featuring real audio recorded this summer from wild dolphins at our research field site at Mikura Island in Japan.

Transcript :: Read a transcript of this episode
DCP's 2007 Research :: Read about DCP's 2007 research from Mikura Island in Japan

File Download (8:05 min / 7.4 MB)

Dolphins get the point

The Dolphin Communication Project — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 20:00:00 -0500

You may recall from The Dolphin Pod episode titled “Herman's Dolphin Prodigies” that dolphins have proven themselves to be capable of understanding the human pointing gesture. Dr. Louis Herman and his research team have shown that dolphins, when given a pointing arm and finger gesture to indicate an object, understand that this gesture is a cue to the location of an object. This might sound like a very boring, elementary skill, but the ability to follow a pointing gesture is very rare in the animal kingdom. Even super smart animals like chimpanzees have a very hard time with pointing comprehension. Learn all about why dolphins understand pointing in this week’s episode.

Transcript :: Read a transcript of this week's episode

File Download (6:17 min / 5.8 MB)

Bubble Rings

The Dolphin Communication Project — Sat, 26 May 2007 19:43:00 -0500

Dolphins have been observed creating and playing with intricate bubble rings. Learn all about bubble ring play in dolphins in this week’s episode.

Transcript :: Read a transcript of this episode
Bubble Rings :: More about bubble rings
Beluga Blows Bubble Ring :: Watch a beluga whale blow a bubble ring and then catch it
More Beluga Bubble rings :: A beluga whale blows a spectacular bubble ring

File Download (4:13 min / 3.9 MB)

Mikura Research 2007

The Dolphin Communication Project — Fri, 18 May 2007 20:56:00 -0500

In just a few days, the Dolphin Communication Project will begin our research on Mikura Island in Japan for our summer 2007 field season. The tiny, dormant volcanic island of Mikura lies 200 km south of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean. The island is home to 300 human beings and about 180 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins. Learn more about our research on Mikura in this week’s episode.

Transcript :: Read a transcript of this episode
Field Reports :: Follow along with this year's summer field reports

File Download (4:25 min / 4.1 MB)

Narwhal Oceanographers

The Dolphin Communication Project — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 13:11:00 -0500

Today is Earth Day 2007. According to the Earth Day Network Web site, the focus of this year's Earth Day is “A Call for Action on Climate Change”. Climate change is a topic that is in the news a lot lately, but one rarely finds a connection between climate change and dolphins. However, there is one species of cetacean that is on the front lines of this battle against climate change: the narwhal. You might remember from a previous episode of The Dolphin Pod that we discussed a hypothesis that the narwhal's tusk may function as a kind of barometer – sensitive to changes in the atmosphere. But, this time it's not the narwhal's tusk that is helping researchers learn more about climate change, it's the narwhals themselves. Scientists are using narwhals tagged with satellite transmitters and instruments that sample water temperatures to learn more about remote regions of the Atlantic Ocean. Narwhals have been recruited as oceanographers and climate change specialists.

Transcript :: Read a transcript of this week's episode with web links
Narwhals Aid Climate Change Study article :: Read an article from Discovery News on narwhal oceanographers

File Download (4:34 min / 4.2 MB)

Scats and Dogs

The Dolphin Communication Project — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 10:27:00 -0500

This week's episode of The Dolphin Pod is not actually about dolphins, but this little gem was simply too precious to ignore. Learn all about some very special poop-sniffing dogs that are helping researchers to learn more about endangered whales in this week’s episode.

Transcript :: Read a transcript of this week's episode with web links
The scent of a whale :: Read an article from the Boston Globe about whale-scat sniffing dogs
Faecal sampling using detection dogs to study reproduction and health in North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) :: Read a scientific article about scat-sniffing dogs

File Download (4:59 min / 4.6 MB)

Dolphin Antennas

The Dolphin Communication Project — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 07:11:00 -0500

Scientists think that dolphin's teeth aren't just for grabbing – a hypothesis that is gaining considerable support suggests that dolphin teeth might be used as an antenna. Not an antenna for picking up radio or television signals (dolphins probably aren't too bothered if they miss an episode or two of Survivor), but for detecting sonar signals. Learn more about the strange properties of dolphin teeth in this week’s episode.

Transcript :: Read a transcript of this episode with web links
Scientific article about dolphin 'antenna teeth' :: A recently published article going into great detail about the acoustic properties of dolphin teeth, and how they could potentially act as an antenna

File Download (5:25 min / 5 MB)

Where does the word 'dolphin' come from?

The Dolphin Communication Project — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 12:23:00 -0500

In today's episode, we will shed light on the ancient history of the word ‘dolphin'.

Transcript :: Read a transcript of this episode

File Download (8:47 min / 8.1 MB)

The Dolphin's Vestibular Sense

The Dolphin Communication Project — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 05:00:00 -0600

This week’s episode reveals how dolphins manage to spend their entire lives in an aquatic environment (an almost zero gravity environment) without ever getting seasick or dizzy. It’s all thanks to some important evolutionary changes to their vestibular sense – one of the most important, and often overlooked, of the senses. Learn all about the vestibular sense in this week’s episode.

Transcript of this episode :: Read a transcript of this week's episode with web links
The vestibular sense :: A fantastic website with a detailed overview of the vestibular sense

File Download (9:18 min / 8.5 MB)

Dolphin Eyeballs

The Dolphin Communication Project — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 02:16:32 -0600

If you are a regular listener to the Dolphin Pod, then you’ll be aware of the power and versatility of a dolphin’s echolocation system. If you are inclined to be jealous of the sensory systems of other animals, you could do worse than to envy dolphin biosonar. It is pretty cool stuff. At least, you can rest assured that humans outshine dolphins when it comes to vision, right? Not so fast my simian friend – while it is true that humans and other primates do have well-developed visual systems, our dolphin friends are not far behind. This episode will provide you with a detailed look at dolphins’ sense of vision by focusing (get it, focusing?) on the structure of the eyeball. It is a head-to-head battle between the human and the dolphin eyeball to see who will earn the title of ‘coolest eyeball ever’!

Transcript of this episode :: Read a transcript of this episode with weblinks
Eye anatomy :: Read more about the anatomy of the human eye

File Download (0:00 min / 9.8 MB)

Fungie the Dingle Dolphin

The Dolphin Communication Project — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:01:00 -0600

This week's episode features a personal essay about my experiences of swimming with Fungie – the famous solitary dolphin who has been living near the town of Dingle on the west coast of Ireland. Stay tuned for future episodes about lone, sociable dolphins and the whale and dolphin watching industry featured this month on The Dolphin Pod.

This week’s episode features music from the Irish traditional group Cran.

Transcript of this episode :: Read a transcript of this week's episode with web links
Fungie :: Learn more about Fungie the Dingle Dolphin
irishdolphins.com :: Visit the Irish Dolphins website
Whale and dolphin watching in Ireland :: Learn more about whales and dolphins in Ireland from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group website
Cran music :: Check out the Irish music featured in the week's episode from Cran

File Download (11:10 min / 10.2 MB)

The narwhal's tusk

The Dolphin Communication Project — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:00:00 -0600

The narwhal is perhaps one of the most easily recognizable of all cetaceans thanks to their distinctive long tusks. Learn more about the narwhal’s tusks and what it is used for in this week’s episode.

Transcript of this episode :: Read a transcript of this week's episode with web links
Narwhal info :: Learn more about the narwhal's tusk
Mr. Narhwal :: Explore the world of Mr. Narhwal and Buddy the Elf

File Download (0:00 min / 7.5 MB)

The Year of the Dolphin

The Dolphin Communication Project — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 02:57:00 -0600

2007 is a year with major significance for dolphin enthusiasts as it has been officially declared the Year of the Dolphin! You might have heard about this in the news. But what on earth is the Year of the Dolphin all about, and who has the authority to declare such things? Learn all about the Year of the Dolphin in this week’s podcast.

Transcript of this episode :: Read a transcript of this week's episode with weblinks
Year of the Dolphin website :: The official website of the Year of the Dolphin
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society :: The official website of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society - co-sponsor of the Year of the Dolphin
Adopt a dolphin :: Adopt a dolphin through the Dolphin Communication Project

File Download (8:41 min / 8 MB)

Newsflash: Dolphin Blogosphere Expands

The Dolphin Communication Project — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:20:00 -0600

The dolphin blogosphere has been expanding in recent weeks.

A brand new podcast has just been released by the Act for Dolphins campaign. This podcast focuses on the campaign to stop the slaughter of wild dolphins in Japanese waters. To subscribe to the podcast, visit actfordolphins.podomatic.com

In addition, scientist David Lusseau has created a new blog highlighting conservations efforts focused on a small endangered group of bottlenose dolphins in Doubtful Sound New Zealand. To learn more about the threat of whalewatching and vessel traffic for this population, visit www.fiordlandbottlenosedolphins.blogspot.com

For links to these new blogs and podcasts, visit thedolphinpod.com

Transcript of this episode :: A transcript of this episode with weblinks
Act for Dolphins podcast :: Subscribe to the new Act for Dolphins podcast
David Lusseau's blog :: Read David Lusseau's blog about endangered bottlenose dolphins in Doubtful Sound New Zealand.

File Download (0:53 min / 0.8 MB)

RIMS field site video podcast

The Dolphin Communication Project — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:22:00 -0600

This week’s special video podcast highlights the Dolphin Communication Project’s research at the Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences. Learnabout DCP’s research at this field site, and watch some amazing video of the RIMS dolphins in action.

DCP's research at RIMS :: Learn more about DCP's research at the Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences field site
DCP Ecoutours at RIMS :: Why not consider joining DCP researchers on a week long eco-tour excusrion to RIMS
RIMS website :: Visit the website of the Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences
Terramar Productions :: Learn more about John Anderson and Terramar Productions

File Download (1:21 min / 7.9 MB)

Holiday Podcast

The Dolphin Communication Project — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 05:12:00 -0600

A special holiday greeting from The Dolphin Pod.

File Download (2:19 min / 2.1 MB)

Baiji Extinct!

The Dolphin Communication Project — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 04:03:00 -0600

In this week’s episode, we will discuss the baiji; a very special dolphin that has recently made its way into the news for all of the wrong reasons.

Transcipt of this episode :: Read a transcript of this week's episode with weblinks
The Baiji.org Foundation :: Learnmore about hte Baiji at the website of the Baiji.org foundation

File Download (7:33 min / 6.9 MB)

Dolphins who need dolphins

The Dolphin Communication Project — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 04:49:00 -0600

Researchers at the Dolphin Communication Project get a lot of questions from the public about dolphin behavior, but one question above all the others has given us the biggest kick. And, sparked a rather interesting answer. The question, posed to us once by a young dolphin enthusiast, was ‘How do dolphins get married?' Not ‘do dolphins get married' mind you, but ‘how do they get married'. Learn the answer to this question in this week’s episode.

Transcipt of this episode :: Read a transcript of this week's episode
Ann Weaver's research :: Read Ann Weaver's story about dolphin social relationships
Interview with Ann Weaver :: Read the Dolphin Pod's interview with Ann Weaver
Leszek Karczmarski's research :: Learn more about Leszek Karczmarski's research with spinner dolphins in Hawaii
Woman marries dolphin :: Oh boy - the only case of a dolphin marriage currently on the books.....
Shark Bay dolphins :: Learn more about the dolphins of Shark Bay

File Download (7:11 min / 6.6 MB)

Mikura Field Site video podcast

The Dolphin Communication Project — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 12:41:00 -0600

This week’s special video podcast showcases the Dolphin Communication Project’s research with the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins of Mikura island in Japan. Learn about DCP’s research on Mikura, and watch some amazing video of the Mikura dolphins in action.

DCP's research on Mikura :: Learn more about DCP's research on Mikura island
Mikura Jima info (in Japanese) :: For all you Japanese speakers; visit the Mikura Island blog
Terramar Productions :: Learn more about John Anderson and Terramar Productions

File Download (2:22 min / 14.1 MB)