Merina Does Her Part for the Environment!

Recently, a staff member, Kris, walked by the front lagoon and stopped to speak with a family of visitors. The guests were completely enamored with the beautiful lady dolphins and little Jax. They asked the staff how we tell the dolphins apart and wanted to know the names of each dolphin.

As the Kris pointed out Ras and Gypsi, she noticed a piece of plastic floating in the water. (From time to time, unfortunately, things drift into the lagoons from the water outside the fences.) Excusing herself from the family, she noticed that all of the dolphins followed her towards the middle dock. She grabbed a target pole and tried to get the floating debris, but no luck! It was just out of reach. The next thing she knew, Merina came to the rescue. She swam up under the plastic, grabbed it in her mouth and swam over to the dock.

After Kris took the plastic, she gave Merina a little pat on the melon and told her she was awesome. The visiting family applauded! Merina gave a little jump and vocalized a small scream as if proud of herself for saving the day and doing what she good to protect the environment. She sure gave the visitors and Kris something to remember for a long time.

DRC's Latest Research Study Published!

In the top picture, Administrative Director of Research Emily Guarino demonstrates how we asked the dolphins to choose which container held the alligator. In the second photo, she shows Tanner that he got the answer correct!

Research Explores Dolphins Understanding of Hidden Objects

Grassy Key… When you watch someone put chocolate into a cabinet, you know where to find the treat, even when you can’t see it. If a person shows you a gold coin in their hand, reaches into their pocket, and then, when they remove their hand, they are no longer holding the coin, you’ll have no problem figuring out where that gold must be. This ability to reason about things that have disappeared from view is known as object permanence. It has been studied in many land animals, and now Dolphin Research Center (DRC), located in Grassy Key, FL, is the first to explore this ability with marine mammals. Dolphin Research Center’s research paper on What Do Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) Understand About Hidden Objects was recently published by the prestigious scientific journal Animal Cognition.

“When you show an object to a human infant who’s only a few months old and then hide it, as far as the baby is concerned, it's as though the object ceases to exist. They won't look for it,” explains Research Director Dr. Kelly Jaakkola. “By the time humans are around 12 months old, they seem to realize that the object still exists and search for it even if they can’t see it.”
For this study, DRC’s researchers hid an object -- a plush toy alligator -- in one of three containers while the dolphins watched. They then asked the animals to choose the container holding the alligator. The dolphins chose correctly with a high rate of accuracy.

Several other non-human species have demonstrated this ability -- which scientists call "visible displacement" -- including gorillas, chimpanzees, parrots and dogs. DRC next explored a harder condition called “invisible displacement”. This time, they showed dolphins the plush alligator being hidden in a cylinder. They then placed the cylinder in one of three containers and emptied the alligator into the container where the dolphin could not see this action take place. They showed the dolphin the empty cylinder, and again asked it to choose the container holding the alligator.

Chief Operating Officer/Co-Founder Mandy Rodriguez places the alligator in a cylinder while Pax watches.

Apes are the only animals besides humans that demonstrate they can solve these kinds of trials. Since apes, humans and dolphins share other specific cognitive skills – including mirror self-recognition, ability to imitate and to understand symbols– DRC’s scientists fully expected that dolphins would also succeed with invisible displacement. Surprisingly, they didn’t.

“The reasons why remain unknown,” Jaakkola said. “There are many possibilities. They might lack an understanding of containment, since containers as we understand them do not exist in the sea. Also, in their underwater world, dolphins use echolocation, which is their natural sonar. If a fish disappears beneath the sand, for example, dolphins can echolocate and still perceive exactly where the fish is located. Perhaps they just don’t need this ability in the first place. Further research could address this puzzle.”

Even though the dolphins did not demonstrate the ability they expected, DRC’s research team is anything but disappointed. “Our studies are helping to build a more complete picture of dolphin cognition,” Jaakkola adds. “To do that, it’s just as important and fascinating to figure out what they can’t do as well as what they can, so that we can really begin to understand how they think and learn.”

DRC Welcomes Soldiers; Rededicates Veterans Garden

Enjoying a Dolphin Encounter at Dolphin Research Center with Merina are (l-r) Damon Ziegler, United States Marine Corps; Michael Fradera, United States Army; and Adam McCann, United States Marine Corps.

If smiles are any indication of a program’s success, then the recent visit to Dolphin Research Center (DRC) by participants from the Wounded Warrior Project and the Disabled American Veterans was a triumph. On Friday, August 14th, DRC treated 13 soldiers, all of whom are recovering from serious war-related injuries, and 8 Vietnam veterans to a special experience in the water with the dolphins. The men and their new dolphin friends swam, splashed, and played together in the Dolphin Encounter program, and constant smiles were seen everywhere.

After the dolphin swim, the men enjoyed a pizza lunch, donated by Papa John’s of Marathon. DRC’s Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder Mandy Rodriguez served in the U.S. Marine Corps, seeing active duty in Vietnam. “It was an honor to welcome these men to Dolphin Research Center. All soldiers face challenges when they return home, regardless of whether they are injured. We’re delighted that spending time with the dolphins provided a welcome break from those challenges,” Mandy says.

After lunch, the soldiers joined DRC staff and other visitors for the formal rededication of our Veterans Garden. Ten years ago, military veterans participated in a special group program at Dolphin Research Center. As part of their experience, they built a lush, tropical garden area that the center then dedicated to veterans of all wars.

Since then, the garden has persevered through storms and other challenges, and over the last year has been replenished with new plantings, paved walkways and other additions. On Friday, August 14th, DRC rededicated the Veterans Garden in a moving ceremony attended by the Key West Navy Color Guard, soldiers from the Wounded Warrior Project and Disabled American Veterans, center staff and visitors.

A few months ago, Specialist William Carroll of the New Jersey Army National Guard Reserves returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq. He visited DRC and presented the center with a United States flag that flew over Baghdad along with a Certificate of Patriotism from the Special Operations Task Force-Central of Operation Iraqi Freedom II. At the garden rededication, personnel from the US Navy Color Guard performed a refolding ceremony with the flag

Mandy explained, “This garden is a peaceful oasis at DRC, and a place to remember and honor the service and sacrifice of our nation’s solders in every branch of the military. We are honored to receive this flag and certificate.”

U.S. Navy personnel from Key West refold a United States flag that was presented to Dolphin Research Center with a Certificate of Patriotism from the Special Operations Task Force-Central of Operation Iraqi Freedom II. Observing the ceremony are (pictured r-l) DRC’s Chief Operating Officer Mandy Rodriguez, and staff members Adam Keaton, Thomas Darapiza, and Stuart Strickland.

Kibby Goes Fishing

Guests frequently ask us if the dolphins ever eat the fish that swim in their lagoons. We know they’re certainly able to catch the snapper. Kibby recently demonstrated this when we spotted him swimming around with a large mangrove snapper in his mouth. Although the dolphins swallow their food whole and a one pound herring is no problem, this snapper measured over 20 inches long!
Kibby looked mighty proud of his catch, but he was also quite happy to exchange for one of those tasty herring.

Simply Pandora-ble!

When they see Pandora smile, guests can't help smiling back!

Leave it to Pandora to create an experience that entertains not only her, but everybody around. During a recent Dolphin Encounter, when she gave a young girl a flippershake, the guest started to giggle. Pandora didn’t miss a beat before she began giggling, too. This tickled everyone’s funny bones and all of the other Encounter participants began to laugh. There were big smiles everywhere that afternoon!

Help Convince Animal Planet!

As you all know, Dolphin Research Center is featured in a spectacular new documentary series called Dolphin Days. It is already airing in the United Kingdom and Italy, and is slated to premier in the coming months in Singapore and throughout Europe and we’re receiving wonderful viewer reaction. However, Animal Planet in the United States has not yet acquired the series and we don’t have any assurances that they will do so.

We think it can’t hurt to let them know that there are thousands of people in the U.S. who want to see Dolphin Days and would be glued to Animal Planet if they air the show. If you’d like to join the effort to bring Dolphin Days to a television near you, please email or write to Animal Planet and let them know how you feel.

To email them directly, go to the Viewer Relations page of the Discovery (Animal Planet’s parent company) website. To access that page directly, go to http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations.

Once you are on the page, please fill in information in the required fields. When asked to select a network, choose “Animal Planet”. When asked for the Program/Show, scroll down the list and select “Other”. For the Last Watched field, pick “Unknown”. On the next page, select “Primetime” and “General Comment or Question”. You will then be able to leave a comment in the box provided. (When you’re actually doing the steps, it isn’t complicated.)

To send a letter, please write to: Discovery Communications, Viewer Relations, One Discover Place, 5th Floor, Silver Spring, MD, 20910.

Thank you in advance!

Manatees Visit DRC!

These manatees were definitely on the move going from one side of DRC to the other!

Executive VP Mandy Rodriguez observes the manatees in action. You can see by the manatee's tail paddle that he must have had a run-in with a boat at some time in his life.

Love was definitely in the air, or at least in the water, recently when a group of manatees visited DRC. At this time of year, mating herds are common and three or four males were in hot pursuit of a lovely female. Possibly tired of the relentless attention, she swam under the buoy line on the west side of DRC and headed for the shoreline. The males obviously followed.
The dolphins in the front lagoon were about to do a session when the manatees arrived on the other side of the fence. Picture a group of large manatee bodies rolling around together. As you can imagine, this was a huge distraction and the dolphins just had to swim over and take a look.
DRC staff members did our best to get a look, too. When we did, we saw that some of the manatees sported scars and healed gashes that indicated previous injuries – most likely from boat strikes!
At one point, the female manatee pushed against the lagoon fences, possibly looking for someplace where she could get a break from her amorous companions. Concerned that she could hurt herself, we decided it would be safer to coax her to leave. Executive V.P. Mandy Rodriguez, who is also the leader of DRC’s Manatee Rescue Team gently paddled around in a kayak while other team members slowly walked through the water and pulled back the buoy line. Without rushing, or harassing the manatees, the team maintained a presence and, finally, the animals turned around and departed.
Temporarily.
A few moments later, we spotted them swimming toward the other side of the facility where they briefly slipped under the buoys and swam along the fences where the big boys live. Perhaps the lady manatee decided that the last thing she needed was more guys around because she turned around almost immediately and, you guessed, returned to the other side of DRC!
Eventually, they must have realized that this was not the ideal courtship spot. The manatees left without assistance and swam off to explore elsewhere in the Keys.
In the meantime, while all of this manatee melee was underway, we looked off the end of the causeway and spotted dorsal fins. Seems like a small pod of dolphins decided to drop by and feed in the waters around DRC.