An interview with DCP Research Associate Manon Themelin and DCP Director Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski. We learn how Manon got started researching dolphins and the exciting discoveries she's made. Manon's research into relationship quality (RQ) shows that the methods we apply to the study of ravens and chimpanzees works just as well for dolphins, albeit with some minor tweaks to accommodate for dolphins' aquatic lifestyle and peculiar ways of socializing. Also, it turns out that the positions dolphin adopt when swimming next to each other and how they navigate each others' slipstreams can tell us a lot about the relationships between individual dolphins.
What a Month! We were joined by three different groups for our month-long session to AKR and RIMS this spring. Thank you to the York U group led by Kristin and the CSU study abroad students led by Shane, as well as Bill and Savanna in our last week – all for joining us! Thank you to the dolphins (especially Gracie, pictured here) for...
Friday was our last full day of data collection, with session #50 completed for 2023. It was a very dolphin social session with relatively icky underwater visibility. The dolphins were very playful, from above water observations. Alita played everywhere with every conceivable object available – sea grass, seaweed, mangrove pods, Buzz, etc. There was lots of...
We began the day as you would expect … with dolphins! And underwater data collection was conducted with mostly Champ, Lenca, and Stan in view. There is lots of sargassum coming around the dolphin pools and the reef. We also did lots of trash clean-up. Manon and Savanna had a dolphin encounter with Tank and Elyork – so Savanna met...
Today, during morning data collection, Kathleen was greeted by Champ and several other dolphins who were very curious and playful around her fins. We were treated to a mildly humid day that was sunny. There were lots of pec fin slaps at the surface and some leaps and, also, Ronnie did some ventral up swims! Thank you to...
We had a thunderstorm last night! It was nature’s light show with a loud orchestra! Our towels survived the night clipped to the line outside. The dawn was not bright because of overcast clouds, which we welcomed since the humidity was lessened and the air not hugely hot! We did not get rained on during data collection and...
Monday started with a great session and awesome underwater visibility. The dolphins were social and Buzz and Rocky seemed to play keep away with Kathleen and the MVA. They pushed each other away from her fins and swam circles around her. Thank you to six of Teri’s interns (Gillian, Giselle, Jordan, Morgan, Aliya, Izzy) who helped us...
No AM data collection on Sunday morning. We gave the dolphins the morning off and our bodies a well-deserved rest! We took a slow morning and a slow afternoon with the exception of Teri’s interns who had a data collection initiation for space use data. We collected...
Even though the CSU Waterproof Rams departed this morning from AKR and Roatan, they still helped us with an AM data collection session. It was a quiet data for surface observations and space use but there was some social activity underwater. Not the least of which was...
Friday was our (the CSU students) last full day on Roatan at AKR helping to study the dolphins and learn about the marine environment (and getting to know the sometimes-odd eating habits of our classmates!). As was typical for each morning, we began with surface observations and space use data collection while Kathleen...