Summary of Effort and Data Collected.
From 37 days in the field, we had 18 boat trips, with video recorded on each trip. (9 extra trips included Robin & Joana). Each trip is 2 hours long which gave us 36 hours, 21 minutes of effort and 374 minutes of video. Our 'return on effort' was 17.15% – almost double that of previous years! We also gathered 391 minutes of audio data with the click detector. Many sequences include young animals (calves or juveniles) approaching the camera – this means we can begin to examine the development of echolocation use.
110 individual dolphins were positively identified from the ~7 hours of video. The ID records are maintained by the Mikurajima Iruka Kenkyuukai. We also identified 5-6 young dolphins based upon association with their moms. Many of these young animals now possess scars that will facilitate their receiving their own ID number within the catalog.
Many people helped with this season of data collection. Many contributed to its successful outcome. We will post the detailed 4 page summary of our time on Mikura to the Japan research page in early July.
Thanks for sharing our field time in Japan at Mikura Island. We look forward to sharing more with you from the Bahamas (Bimini ongoing, White Sand Ridge from early August).
Cheers
Kathleen