The Dolphin Pod Episode 24

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. 

The Dolphin Pod Episode 23

Justin interviews Jason Bruck, Assistant Professor of Biology at Stephen F. Austin State University. Jason is the head of the Bruck Integrative Biology Lab where he and his students study dolphin behavior and cognition. In this interview, Jason and Justin discuss advice he offers to student hoping to study dolphins, his latest research on dolphin signature whistles and urine, his unexpected past as a juggler, and more.

The Dolphin Pod Episode 22

Dolphins are pretty strange when it comes to the way they treat strangers. Unlike most primates (including humans) two completely different social groups – including different species – are able to integrate their societies without any violence whatsoever. Find out how DCP researchers Kelly Melillo-Sweeting and Nicole Danaher-Garcia discovered that the spotted dolphins living around Bimini are able to live peacefully alongside bottlenose dolphins AND how these Bimini spotted welcomed a group of four dozen “refugee” spotted dolphins into their society without batting an eye.

Dolphin Pod News – Week Ending Nov 21, 2007

A rash of dolphin deaths in Australia has biologists baffled. Sky News is reporting that nine bottlenosed dolphins have been found dead on the shores of the popular tourist area of Gippsland Lakes in Australia within the past 12 months. Researchers are unsure as to what is causing these deaths. One theory is that they are ingesting toxic chemicals which may be coming from local industry or blue-green algae blooms in the area. An arrest warrant has been issued for Hayden Panettiere after her clash with Japanese fisherman.

Dolphin Pod News – Week Ending Nov 7, 2007

Hayden Panettiere in dolphin protest, stranding in Iran, tool use seen again in wild dolphins
{audio}podcast/thedolphinpod2dolphinpodnews.mp3{/audio} Hayden Panettiere , who stars as the indestructible cheerleader Cliare Bennet on the hit TV series Heroes ,  was involved in a dolphin protest in Japan this week . In association with the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd , Hayden and a group of surfers paddled into a small bay in Taiji Japan, where Japanese fisherman were preparing to slaughter a group of dolphins as part of their annual dolphin drive hunt.

Dolphin Pod News – Week Ending Nov 1, 2007

A lone Baiji may have been sighted in the Yangtze River. The Baiji is a freshwater dolphin species decaled functionally extinct earlier this year.  In September, Reuters reported that a Chinese fisherman may have seen and even videotaped a Baiji. Even if this sighting can be confirmed however, it will not change the status of this extinct species; a lone Baiji or even just a few Baiji will not be enough to bring the population back to sustainable numbers.  
An injured dolphin in Clearwater Florida will be getting a prosthetic tail.