A Dolphin Family Affair

Dolphin Explorer LLC is the proprietor of the 10,000 Islands Dolphin Study Program, sometimes known as the Dolphin Study, as noted by their web address dolphin-study.com. The team monitors the travel range, social behavior, abundance, health and genealogy of the local bottlenose dolphin population. Our data dates back to the inception of the program in 2006. The study continues…

For more than 16 years the survey team on board the Dolphin Explorer has collected data regarding our local dolphins. We’ve watched some of our adult females give birth, multiple times, over the years and some of their offspring now have young of their own. Yes, we have grandmothers in our waters!

In fact, there are at least four grandmothers that are known to the team which means we can study family dynamics to a greater degree than ever before. Today we are going in depth to look at three generations of a particular family with the matriarch being a well experienced adult female named Halfway.

Our dolphin study began in February, 2006, so we have logged more than 16 years of sightings in our databases. At the time the study began, Halfway had a calf by her side that appeared to be about one and a half years old. Hoping to “see more” of this calf, it was named Seymour. By this age, Seymour was already fishing and getting good at it. When dolphin calves are born, they have no teeth so they depend on mother’s milk exclusively for food. Teeth may be fully erupted through the jaw as young as six months old so Seymour had been practicing his fishing for a while. 

A calf will typically stay with its mom for three to four years in this section of the world. Seymour was likely born in the Fall of 2004. With that being noted mom Halfway might be giving birth in the Fall of 2007, and she did! Seymour was skillful enough to go on his own and Halfway gave birth to a son named Simon.

Just like Seymour, Simon flourished on mom’s milk, teethed as normal, and schooled by Halfways side. Both of these males stopped nursing at less than two years old. When mom no longer needs to produce milk, she might be ready to become pregnant again. With a pregnancy period of 12 months that means Halfway could possibly give birth every three years and her births take place primarily in September. And she did it again!

In 2010 her new calf Kaya appeared on the scene. The two previous offspring were boys, so this is the first daughter known to us by Halfway. Just like her older brothers, Kaya spent three years learning by mom’s side, going out on her own in 2013 when Halfway gave birth to another daughter, Skipper.

Now, Skipper is an amazing story. At about eight months old, this little girl was bitten by a shark on her torso and survived. At a year old she became entangled in fishing line that threatened to disable the movement of her tailfin. This could be life ending! However, a major rescue ensued, the line was removed and Skipper was able to continue life by Halfway’s side…. until she turned three.

Yep, in 2016 mom gave birth to a young male that was named Wyatt. Now five and a half years old, Wyatt also was taught well by mom for three years and still feeds right where Halfway schooled him.

In 2018 Kaya, now eight years old, gave birth to her first offspring, a male named Ariel. This would be Halfway’s first known grandson!

In 2019, three years after Wyatt was born and just like clockwork, Halfway again gave birth, this time a calf named Ben. There are predators in our waters and Ben was only seen for just over a month. Since mom now did not have a calf by her side, she was willing to mate. She became pregnant just two months later, in December of 2019. Remember, the pregnancy period is one year so she gave birth in December of 2020 to Cubbie.

Currently just over 14 months old Cubbie is enjoying life, just as Seymour, Simon, Kaya, Skipper, Wyatt and Ben (for a short while) did. He would be Halfway’s seventh known offspring. We began our survey program in 2006 so we do not know how many young were produced by Halfway prior to that.

Adding to the family, Skipper gave birth to her first calf in September of 2021, and its name is Fergie. This is Halfway’s second grandchild!

Also making it more fun, when Cubbie was born he immediately became the uncle of two-year Ariel, son of Kaya. Cubbie is now an uncle for the second time with the birth of Skipper’s baby Fergie.

What a family story! And they’re not even humans, they’re dolphins! So, here’s to Halfway, the matriarch that has created a family dynamic that, to our knowledge, is unique in the Marco Island waters! Seven known offspring, two known grandbabies and who knows what the future will bring! Kaya’s son Ariel is now three and a half so Kaya might surprise Halfway with a third grandbaby this fall. Will it happen? Stay tuned!!!!

Bob is the Lead Naturalist for the survey team on board the Dolphin Explorer. He is the author of two books and a two-time national award-winning columnist for Coastal Breeze News as well as a regular speaker at many area venues. Bob loves his wife very much!