On Dolphins

http://www.dolphinsfilm.com/


They have much to teach us about our world, and scientists everywhere are watching and listening. They're discovering where the many kinds of dolphins live and travel; how dolphin families and societies form; how these marine mammals communicate with one another; and sadly, how humans adversely affect their health and mortality. Our film is a window into an incredibly complex realm where dolphins are just one citizen of a magnificent water kingdom. We hope our film Dolphins inspires you to look at the ocean and its inhabitants with new eyes -- eyes that reflect our best selves and that someday mirror a healthy ocean.
Dive Into
The Mesmerizing World Of
Dolphins

Imagine you are a marine biologist working in the crystalline, turquoise waters of the Bahamas. Sunlight dances off the rippled, white sand banks. Swimming alongside you are some of the most graceful and extraordinary creatures on earth-- wild dolphins. While few of us will ever have the chance to encounter a dolphin in the wild, audiences will feel like they are participating in exciting research on these magnificent animals when they viewDolphins, a large-format Great Adventure Film from MacGillivray Freeman Films, producers of the box-office hit Everest.

From the dazzling coral reefs of the Bahamas to thewind-swept seas of Patagonia, Dolphins takes audiences on an underwater adventure with inquisitive Atlantic spotted dolphins, acrobatic dusky dolphins, and the familiar bottlenose dolphin. Viewers will meet a young woman scientist, Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski, and her two colleagues, mentor Dr. Bernd Würsig and Dr. Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez, as they lead us on an exploration into their fascinating world.

While most of what we know about dolphins comes from studying them in captivity, Dudzinski and her colleagues conduct their research with dolphins in the wild, a far more strenuous, time-consuming, even dangerous endeavor. Employing innovative scientific methods and technology, Kathleen and her colleagues set out to learn more about how dolphins communicate and their foraging and social behaviors. Audiences may be surprised to witness firsthand how scientific progress is made in inches and not miles, and how the slow accumulation of scientific data is passed on, and expanded upon, from one generation of scientists to the next.

Featuring a soundtrack with music from Grammy Award®-winning singer and songwriter Sting, Dolphins will capture the imagination of audiences worldwide who will gain newfound respect for the ocean and the importance of scientific research to its preservation.

Dolphins is produced by MacGillivray Freeman Films in association with the National Wildlife Federation, the nation's largest member-supported conservation group, and with major funding provided by the National Science Foundation and Museum Film Network

In Dolphins, audiences are introduced to Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski, scientist dedicated to studying dolphin-to-dolphin communication in the wild. Her work often takes her to remote parts of the world where she carries out her methodical research in conditions that are exciting, isolating, and sometimes even dangerous.

Though scientists have been observing dolphins in captivity for nearly century, underwater research on dolphins in the wild has only taken place for about 20 years. Dudzinski's research is unique and gives us great insight into the ways that dolphins communicate with each other. Dudzinski's dedication and enthusiasm for her research and the world of dolphins made her a perfect choice as the lead scientist for Dolphins.

While attending graduate school at Texas A&M University, Dudzinski traveled to the Bahamas - where swimming with dolphins is still legal - to study the Atlantic spotted dolphins and work as a naturalist aboard tourist boats. Besides gathering data, her job was to make sure that both dolphins and divers had safe, enjoyable encounter. The experience also allowed her to share her research with others. She would return to Texas to study and analyze the data she had collected, then go back to the Bahamas to gather more data. Dudzinski spent four, six-month stints observing dolphins in this fashion for her Ph.D. thesis. From approximately 2,000 hours of fieldwork, she gathered just under 20 hours of usable recordings.

Dudzinski overcame a major challenge when she developed and built her first mobile video/acoustic array to record dolphin behavior and communication. Since sound moves faster underwater - 4.5 times faster - the dolphin sounds seemed to come from all directions at once, making them difficult to track. With her professor, Dudzinski devised a simple solution: a pair of underwater microphones, called hydrophones, set on a bar at least 4.5 times wider than the distance between her own ears. The delay produced by that distance allows her to localize the sounds. Later, she studies her films and tapes, and identifies which animal is vocalizing and which are reacting to the vocalizations

Dudzinski recently returned to the U.S. from the Japanese island of Miyake where she studied bottlenose dolphins as part of a postdoctoral fellowship sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (National Science Foundation s Japanese counterpart). She is Director of the Dolphin Communication Project with O.C.S., with which she is hoping to develop new study areas that may include in New Zealand and Patagonia.

While Dudzinski is dedicated to her study of dolphins in the wild, she is also dedicated to exposing others to their world - their playfulness, grace, and intelligence. Some scientists feel that dolphin watching - and swimming with dolphins - can disrupt the animals feeding patterns, stress them when they should be resting, and even separate mother from calf. (It has been illegal to swim with wild dolphins in the United States since passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972.) Since worldwide interest in dolphins is expanding exponentially, however, Dudzinski believes the best thing to do is teach people how to swim with the animals responsibly. Of her days aboard the tourist boats in the Bahamas, and then in Japan, she says, "Every passenger is delighted after their first encounter with dolphins. It s a pleasure to share that experience as well as teach them about dolphins lives."

Dudzinski has taken a big leap toward cracking the dolphin communication code as well as their use of a variety of signals. After spending years meticulously conducting her research, Dudzinski has come to an enlightening observation: "Swimming with dolphins has taught me that I don t need to rely on language to understand the meaning of an exchange between individuals, be they human or other animals. And while my work is a passion for me, life is meant to be enjoyed and shared. I guess you could say that dolphins have taught me to enjoy my playtime." Dudzinski shares her personal story about the film and working with wild dolphins in the children’s companion book to the film, Meeting Dolphins: My Adventures in the Sea, published by National Geographic Books in March 2000.

Personal Profile:

Lives with: Umi, the Mighty Sea Beagle, a dog she jokingly says communicates with her via nose smears "Hana Kanji" left on the windshield of her car.

Studies: Japanese and Spanish in order to communicate with people at her study sites.

Hobbies: lifts weights in order to carry her mobile video/acoustic array, which is pretty heavy.

Typical exclamations: "Cripes!," "Yikes!" "For goodness sakes!"

Fondest teenage memory: setting up a traveling petting zoo for inner city kids.

Least favorite prior job: waitress in a sports bar.

What she knows about sports: zip.

Attitude toward folks with unscientific ideas about dolphins: "I might learn something."


http://www.dolphincommunicationproject.org/
Annual visits with Shedd’s High School Marine Biology Program
Bimini 2012
Written by Kelly Melillo Sweeting
Thursday, 05 April 2012 15:10
Late last month I had the pleasure of visiting with the first round of students participating in Shedd Aquarium’s High School Marine Biology program. It was a great group – as was Wednesday’s! Both sets of students were engaged in the conversation and asked great questions….but then again, so did the teachers and boat captains!

Each year, I enjoy my visits with these groups. I appreciate their support and enthusiasm and the opportunity to share DCP’s work with them. I’ll spend the next couple of months looking forward to the next group aboard the Coral Reef II!

Thanks Shedd HSMB students!
Kel

PS: Since we were talking about other marine mammals breathing during our visit: According to the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, most pinnipeds have “normal” mammalian breathing, but northern fur seals appear to have unihemispheric slow wave sleep like dolphins. But, be careful because some websites out there do indicate that “all marine mammals” are “voluntary breathers”….it’s important to trust your source! And to remember, when it comes to marine mammals, the answers aren’t always easy ones. Understanding their breathing and which areas of the brain control this is very complex!

Family day with the spotteds
Bimini 2012
Written by Kelly Melillo Sweeting
Wednesday, 04 April 2012 03:45
On Monday I joined a last-minute dolphin trip with Bimini Adventures. The boat was filled with excited kids and parents and we were all glad the seas were calm, and became even calmer as the day progressed. After two swim breaks and a couple hours of searching, we saw them! At first there were two Atlantic spotted dolphins – Stefran (#82) and an older calf/younger juvenile. Moments later Tina (#14) came to the bow. I was very excited to see them all, but was slightly concerned that Tina did not have a young calf with her after being pregnant last summer. This is one time where I would be happy if I’ve gotten the ID wrong and it wasn’t really Tina after all. I am fairly sure that Cerra (#38) also came by the boat with another older calf/young juvenile. We were able to swim with the two youngsters, one of which was male and may be added to DCP’s ID catalog as he has both a noticeable spot and scarring along his peduncle.

Our second water entry was shorter, but we got to see one of the older dolphins grab a fish! Since it was getting late, we climbed back aboard the boat and headed for home. On the way, we saw a few more dolphins leaping in the distance.

The seas off Bimini are calming down and the water is already warm. So, stay tuned for many more field reports!

Until then,
Kel

Searching for dolphins with Missione Natura
Bimini 2012
Written by Kelly Melillo Sweeting
Monday, 12 March 2012 00:11
I’ve been waiting all year for a visit from La7 TV’s Missione Natura and Friday and Saturday were it! It was a pleasure working with this team and being a part of their program. Thankfully, the weather cooperated giving us two days of calm seas in the midst of a wildly windy week. Although we got to see several species – a tiger shark, bottlenose dolphins, a single Atlantic spotted dolphin and a turtle, we did not get to observe/film the dolphins under water. This of course was disappointing, but I certainly hope the capable Missione Natura team can still make a great episode, featuring Bimini and including the Dolphin Communication Project!

Stay tuned for more updates from Bimini as we get closer to the summer field season!

-Kel
End of the year dolphins!
Bimini 2011
Written by Kelly Melillo Sweeting
Friday, 30 December 2011 00:09
This week I had the pleasure of joining Bimini Undersea staff aboard the newly rebuilt, ‘Adventurer.’ Adventurer is a fantastic, workhorse of a boat who has served Bimini Undersea well over the years. This year meant a complete overhaul of the ol’ girl and she looks and rides fantastically! Although we did not see any dolphins on last Saturday’s trip, we did have the pleasure of observing two groups of bottlenose dolphin on Thursday. I looked over the photos quickly and it seems the two groups were in fact different and, drum roll please….that tiny calf we saw did still have fetal folds! The little youngster hung close by mom’s side, but did entertain us all with its half-leaping antics! The second group was a bit more spread out than the first and included this active dolphin, leaping on its way somewhere.

A big thanks to all of Bimini Undersea’s guests – today and all year long. We wish you all a very happy 2012. And remember – you still have time to make an end-of-year, tax-deductible donation to DCP. Click here to donate today!

Until next year (unless another trip pops up in the next two days, of course),
Kel

http://www.dolphincommunicationproject.org/pdf/NewsLetters/DolphinGazetteV15n4.pdf

DCP visits Nassau and Dolphin
Encounters in early November
Submitted by Kathleen Dudzinski, Ph.D Bimini
Our trip to Nassau was well-timed again this year. Just after Mother Nature dropped an early snow storm on New England, I
departed for Nassau for a few days of data collection on the dolphins at Dolphin Encounters (DE) at Blue Lagoon Island. Kelly
joined me to help deploy and recover the SM2M passive acoustic recording device. That is, this trip was short - only 3 days for
data collection and so we decided not to use the MVA for our regular routine of behavioral and audio observations. Rather, we
used the SM2M to document ambient noise levels and dolphin
vocalizations. You can read more about this device, the Song
Meter 2 Marine, on page 7 of this issue of the Dolphin Gazette.
It was a good thing we decided this because the weather was
VERY windy and the sea was quite rough - rolling breakers on both
sides of Blue Lagoon Island and wind that did not seem able to
decide from which direction it wanted to come. This all contributed
to lousy underwater visibility. It was so bad that on the second
and third days we could not see past the end of our outstretched
hands! Using a passive acoustic recorder - i.e., just recording
sounds - meant we did not need good underwater visibility. In this
photo, one of the younger males cruises past the SM2M, which is
attached to the dock piling. This was the only decent visibility we
had all trip!
Kel and I were joined by Dr. Rebecca Singer, from Georgetown College in Kentucky. Dr. Singer is beginning a study of object
permanence in dolphins and collaborating with the folks (and dolphins) at DE. In short, this study will see if dolphins understand
what visible and hidden objects mean. As for the audio recordings, this trip was quite productive for acoustic data collection. I’ve
already begun examining the audio files and creating an underwater sound map of the pools. DCP (myself and two scientists
from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) will return to DE in January 2012 to conduct some hearing tests on the dolphins, in
addition to more data collection with DCP’s MVA and SM2M. Stay tuned! The details are sure to be interesting!

W-O-W. The 2011 research season was busy, busy, busy. With
continued support from Al Sweeting, Jr (www.biminiadventures.com)and Bimini Undersea (www.WildDolphins.com), we completed 92
dolphin trips this year. Our field course with the University of New
Brunswick Saint John was a huge success in May and in July and
August, I had the much needed assistance of our summer interns,
Alexis, Brittany and Sabena. We completed two member-sponsored
beach clean-ups and a member-sponsored boat trip. We met with four
education groups aboard the John G. Shedd Aquarium’s research
vessel, The Coral Reef II (one group’s talk got cancelled due to weather
challenges – a bummer!). And of course, we interacted regularly with
eco-tourists who challenged us with questions and provided the human element to our research; that is, we
strive to keep our science bubble open, sharing what we
know (and what we don’t) with the general public.

This season’s 92 boat trips amounted to almost 430
hours at sea searching for dolphins. In those hours,
we had 187 dolphin sightings and over 50% of those
sightings were Atlantic spotted-only dolphin groups.
We also saw bottlenose-only groups and mixed species groups. And of course,
sometimes we saw dolphins in the distance and we could not be sure which
species we had seen. We had 102 dolphin encounters, which are underwater observations lasting at least three
minutes. Almost 80% of all encounters were with spotted-only dolphin groups. We also collected a pile (digitally
speaking) of new photographs, which will be sorted for IDs throughout the offseason.

This summer DCP had the opportunity to beta test
a new Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) device.
PAMs are great because they are very non-invasive
and can gather acoustic data in locations, in conditions
and at times that we landlubbers can’t. The
folks at Wildlife Acoustics are experts in recording
audio from wildlife and recently developed a marine
version of their successful Song Meter 2 unit. You
can find details on the Song Meter 2 Marine (SM2M)
at their website, www.wildlifeacoustics.com. Our
friends at Wildlife Acoustics entrusted us to be the
first to field test this unit; in other words, we were the
first to put the bad boy (or girl?) out in the ocean,
all by its lonesome.The unit was deployed twice
off Bimini, once in July for nearly 12 days and once in September for nearly 13 days. We now have
hours and hours of underwater recordings, which will take some time to analyze. But, for the first time
we have dolphin recordings outside of boat trips! And, we can say that the SM2M works in the real life
ocean.

We also tested the unit in a more controlled setting, during our November visit to Dolphin Encounters
(DE). It was a windy few days, so although that meant poor underwater visibility, the SM2M didn’t mind!
Kathleen is currently sorting through these acoustic recordings and soon we will have a better sense of
the ambient noise and dolphin vocalizations! You can read more about our recent round of data collection
on page 2.



Book Recommendation: Witness to Extinction
The tragic recognition of the extinction of the Yangtze River Dolphin or baiji in
2007 became a major news story and sent shockwaves around the world. It
made a romantic story, for the baiji was a unique and beautiful creature that
features in many Chinese legends and folk tales. The Goddess of the Yangtze,
as it was known, was also the lone representative of an entire and ancient
branch of the Tree of Life. But perhaps the greater tragedy is that its status as
one of the world’s most threatened mammals had been widely recognized,
yet despite wide publicity virtually no international funds became available.
Samuel Turvey here tells the story of the plight of the Yangtze River Dolphin from
his unique perspective as a conservation biologist deeply involved in the struggle
to save the dolphin. This is both a celebration of a beautiful and remarkable animal
that once graced one of China’s greatest rivers, its natural history and its role as a
cultural symbol; and also a personal, eyewitness account of the failures of policy and
the struggle to get funds that led to its tragic demise. It is a true cautionary tale that
we must learn from, for there are countless other threatened species that will suffer
from the same human mistakes, and whose loss we shall not know until it is too late.

DCP Announcements!
10
End-of-Year Donations
The end of the tax year is a great
time to get in last minute donations to
your favorite non-profit organization. We
hope
that DCP will be on that list! As a 501(c)
(3) organization, all donations to the
Dolphin Communication Project are tax
deductible – and greatly needed to
ensure that DCP can continue to meet
our research and education goals.
To make a financial contribution to DCP,
please visit the donation page on our
website, http://tinyurl.com/DCPDonate
or send a check to:
Dolphin Communication Project
PO Box 711
Old Mystic, CT 06372-0711
New Papers
K.M. Dudzinski, J. Gregg, K. Melillo-Sweeting, B. Seay, A.
Levengood, S. Kuczaj II. (2012). Tactile contact exchanges
between dolphins: self-rubbing versus inter-individual contact
in three species from three geographies. International Journal
of Comparative Psychology.
This is the third DCP paper to discuss dolphins’ use of pectoral
fins to contact each other. It is the first to include data from
our Bimini, Bahamas field site as well as explore self-rubbing
among dolphins at Bimini, Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences
and Mikura Island, Japan. It is scheduled to appear in the
February 2012 issue of IJCP.
K. Melillo-Sweeting, J.P. Reid, L. Gittens, N. Adimey, J.Z. Dillet.
(2011). Observations and relocation of a West Indian manatee
(Trichechus manatus) off Bimini, The Bahamas. Aquatic
Mammals 37(4).
After being presented in poster format at the 18th Biennial
Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in 2009, the
story of “Harold” the manatee will soon be published as a short
note in the journal, Aquatic Mammals. This paper outlines
the manatee’s habitat use as well as the cooperation among
multi-national governments, non-profits, business and private
citizens, culminating in the manatee’s release back into the
wild. This paper is scheduled to appear in the December issue
of Aquatic Mammals.As soon as these publications are released, you’ll be able
to request PDF copies or access them from the publications
page on the DCP Web site. Enjoy! Let us know if you have any
questions.