Thursday our day began in its typical fashion, with breakfast and a class session. We did our field report and then suddenly it was time to make our lunches. We had to make our lunch early because we had a picnic lunch on the boat! We departed at 11:00 a.m. and headed south to Triangle Rocks. On the way, we even got to see a group of dolphins, most likely bottlenose, but not confirmed.
On Wednesday morning, we discussed last night’s film and dolphin cognition. There is great research that is ongoing, but many questions remain unanswered. What is the importance of self-recognition? Do dolphins have Theory of Mind? We caught up on other readings as well, including “sponging” by dolphins which may be an element of culture. The specific tool use is currently passed down through matrilineal lines (vertical transmission of culture!). We found it interesting that it is the females who show this behavior.
We’ve become accustomed to spending hours in search of dolphins, but on Tuesday (3 June) we saw our first dolphins at 15:16. It was a group of bottlenose just off the shore – another surprise, since we’ve become used to spotteds. We feel like we are finally getting the hang of swimming with – and not after – the dolphins so that we can better observe them. It was really cool to hear them echolocating and watch them find food in the sand.
Now that The River School’s 1st Grade Dolphin Class has explored our website and discussed dolphins, they have submitted the following questions to our researchers. We hope everyone enjoys reading their questions, and our answers. Thank you Dolphin Class!
Q: How long can they stay out of the water?
A: Dolphins cannot stay out of the water for very long. Although they are very good at leaping out of the water, their bodies are designed for the ocean.
DCP would like to extend a big hello to the 1st Grade Dolphin Class from The River School in Washington, D.C. These students are participating in DCP’s Online Classroom Connection program. Hello Dolphin Class! This eager group will be spending time learning about dolphins over the next week, utilizing DCP resources and connecting with our researchers.
Monday began with a field trip to South Bimini. We hopped on the water taxi, after waiting for the rain to pass, and then boarded “the fun bus,” a colorful old school bus from Bimini Sands. Grant & Katie introduced us to a Bimini boa and they stressed to us that it is extremely unlikely to be hurt by this type of snake. The Bimini boa is only found on Bimini and they are endangered. The one we saw was 3-4 years old and about 5 feet long.
On Sunday, we worked on more photo-ID. At one point, there was a picture that was taken at a challenging angle. But we were still able to identify it as Split Jaw (#22). We would have thought that Split Jaw would always be easy to identify – but angles, water quality and distance aren’t always perfect! After photo-ID we discussed two scientific articles on dolphin play – since our Skype guest lecture had to be postponed due to unreliable island internet.
On Saturday morning, we discussed last night’s movie, which was very interesting. Then we worked on more photo-ID from Friday’s boat trip. We already knew that Lil’ Jess (#35) was there with her calf, but we were also able to positively identify Freckles (#15), another adult female. It is likely the second calf in this group was hers. After a break, John Anderson (Terramar Productions) showed us a video clip from Friday’s trip, set to some nice music! Then we had a showing of “Understanding Dolphins,” his latest project with Dr. Dudzinski.
On Friday morning, we discussed research methods and ethograms. Even though we know those are important, we’re finding ourselves still so excited when we see the dolphins first-hand, that it is hard to apply what we know. With the ethogram, we learned the official terms for behaviors we had already been observing and taking notes on. DCP’s ethogram is very thorough making it clear and reducing confusion. In our second class session, we did more photo matching.
Our Thursday morning began with an introduction to photo-ID, with practice time matching old photographs to the DCP catalog. We looked at #79 and Lil’ Jess (#35). Then we began looking at photos from yesterday’s dolphin trip. Right away we successfully identified Tina (#14).