CZS Sarasota Dolphin Program: 4/13/08

Friday, April 18, 2008

Franciscana Dolphins Tracking Day #45

The animals are again emphasizing the mouth of the bay in their daily movements. It was precisely a month ago that Kure/Tunken moved northeast of Banco Nordeste, where they are today, suggesting the possibility of a lunar (tidal?) cycle to their movements. Nahuel and Kona remain apart, while the pair of Kure/Tunken remains tight.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Franciscana Dolphins Tracking Day #44

All four of the dolphins are outside of the mouth of the bay. Kure/Tunken are still together and northeast of Banco Nordeste, while Kona and Nahuel are separated outside Bahia San Blas.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Franciscana Dolphins Tracking Day #43

All of the animals are outside the mouth of the bay. Kure and Tunken remain together. Kona and Nahuel are closer than they were yesterday, but not a tight pair.

Franciscana Dolphins Tracking Day #42

All of the dolphins are outside the mouth of Bahia San Blas. Kure/Tunken remain together, while the others are apart.

Franciscana Dolphins Tracking Day #41

Kure and Tunken are moving as a tight pair between Nahuel (deep inside the
bay) and Kona (just outside the mouth of the bay).

Franciscana Dolphins Tracking Day #40

Kure and Tunken are at the mouth of the bay, as is Kona, but not with them.
Kona and Nahuel remain separated.

Science as it Happens!

Ranging Patterns and Habitat Use of Franciscana Dolphins off Argentina: 2008

In March 2008, Chicago Zoological Society conservation scientists Randall Wells, Jason Allen, and Aaron Barleycorn returned to Bahia San Blas, Argentina, to work with Pablo Bordino and his dedicated team of students, colleagues, and fishermen, and a veterinary team from Disney’s Animal Programs, to conduct additional satellite-linked tagging of franciscana dolphins. Building on the tagging and tracking work during 2007 that indicated a high degree of residency to Bahia San Blas over periods as long as six months, the next phase of the project was designed to address specific questions about:

1) what part of the water column the dolphins use – if the dolphins show preference for water of particular depths, then fishermen might be able to set their nets at different depths in order to avoid the dolphins. Up to three satellite-linked transmitters with time-depth recorders (TDRs) will provide information on the depths of dives as well as locations.

2) developing correction factors for aerial and boat surveys for dolphin abundance that take into account the dive patterns of the animals – the TDRs provide information on dive durations and time spent at specific depths where the animals might be visible to scientists.

3) social patterns – deploying tags with identical duty cycles, it is possible to determine if the animals exhibit a stable or fluid pattern of social associations, through examination of their location data to see if they remain together or separate. In addition to the location data from the TDR tags, as many as 5 location-only tags may be deployed. Genetic samples collected during the tagging process will allow determination of relatedness of dolphins caught together.

The first two transmitters, both TDRs, were deployed on a juvenile male (#42483) and an adult female (#42485) on March 4, 2008. As data are received from these and subsequent transmitters, they will be displayed on this site, as maps showing dolphin locations.

The radio transmitter ("tag") was specially designed for dolphins and weighs only 15 grams. The expected battery life is approximately four weeks, and the tag naturally falls off some time later.

Major support for this project was provided by the Chicago Zoological Society and Disney’s Animal Programs, with tags and tag data processing assistance provided by Dolphin Quest.

CZS Sarasota Dolphin Program