CZS Sarasota Dolphin Program: 5/25/08

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Franciscana Dolphins - Tracking Day #87

Tunken is to the north, near Banco Culebra, Nahuel in between, and Kona off the mouth of Bahia San Blas.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Franciscana Dolphins - Tracking Day #86

Tunken is headed toward Canal de Culebra, while Nahuel remains there and Kona remains at the mouth of Bahia San Blas.

Franciscana Dolphins - Tracking Day #85

Pattern remains comparable to previous days over the past week: Tunken in Bahia San Blas, Kona just outside, and Nahuel near Canal de Culebra.

Franciscana Dolphins - Tracking Day #84

The pattern of the past few days remains unchanged: Kure/Tunken in Bahia San Blas, Kona near the mouth, and Nahuel near Canal de Culebra.

Franciscana Dolphins - Tracking Day #82

The pattern is unchanged from the past few days. Nahuel is to the north, and the others remain in Bahia San Blas.

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

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Franciscana Dolphins - Tracking Day #87

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Franciscana Dolphins - Tracking Day #86

Franciscana Dolphins - Tracking Day #85

Franciscana Dolphins - Tracking Day #84

Franciscana Dolphins - Tracking Day #82

Science as it Happens!

grampus

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