Dolphin Explorer First Quarter Report

Dolphin Explorer LLC is the proprietor of the 10,000 Islands Dolphin Study Program, studying the travel range, social behavior, abundance, genealogy and well-being of the bottlenose dolphin population of north Marco Island and vicinity with data ranging back to 2006. The study continues….

What a great start to 2022 for our local dolphin population! The survey team on board the Dolphin Explorer hosted guests on 140 excursions for the first three months of this year and experienced 1,688 individual sightings of our local cetacean population. More than 110 different dolphins were identified. These are all local dolphins that stay here all year long.

Here are some excerpts from our report which reaches out with reports to colleges, universities, other dolphin study programs, NOAA, FWC and agencies across the globe.

Our habitat is very shallow, and a population of dolphins lives here all year long. They don’t migrate like other populations do. There is plenty of food around the mangrove islands, sand bars and mud flats and water temperature variance is minimal. Conditions are ideal for them to thrive.

The team is now beginning its 17th year of research and collecting data in the area which means we have watched youngsters grow up and they now have their own calves. This means there are grandmothers in our waters and at least four of them.

For example, female Halfway raised her daughters, Kaya and Skipper, in a specific location and taught them to feed there. Now that these two daughters have their own offspring, they, too, are teaching their young right in that same region. Three generations can now be seen, on occasion, side by side by side!

The primary birthing season for adult females here is during September and October. All eight calves born in the area last fall are surviving and doing well. In addition, one of our females from south Marco showed up here in early March with a calf that looked to be six to seven months old as well, bringing our total to nine new babies seen in the area this year, all born last fall.

There were mostly moms with several offspring giving birth, but two females that had their first calf. One of them, Skipper, gave her mother Halfway a second grandbaby. Halfway is now the mother of seven offspring and grandmother of two. Several females on our list as potentials to give birth did not do so and they are high on the roster to have a calf this fall. Time will tell.

The young males that are away from mom’s care and on their own are doing well. Young females on their own tend to keep company with other adult females and they, too, are thriving.

Of the adult males, one named C.U. Jimmie has not been seen at all in this quarter. He appeared to be older, and his life may have ended. The team will keep a continued lookout for him just in case he is still around. Another male, Cam, was not seen for a while but has returned to the area since mid-March and has been documented several times since then.

Many adult females are busy with calves by their side. Since 2018, comprising four birthing seasons, 32 new calves have been seen so the moms are busy. A calf will typically stay in a mother’s care for three to four years. About 25% of our population is in this age bracket.

There was a “near” rescue of a young dolphin in early January. The team photographs dolphins while on the water and a fishing line was noticed wrapped around 13-month-old Cubbie’s dorsal fin (that fin on his back) and appeared to be trailing down the torso toward the tail. If that line tangles around the tail fin, it could be a life ending injury. Florida Wildlife Commission was contacted, information was requested by them and given to them. They were on alert for a potential rescue. When Cubbie was seen two days later, all of the line was gone from his body! No rescue was needed and Cubbie only sustained minor cuts to that dorsal fin. They are now completely healed.

There is more to talk about, much more, and the team will continue to collect data every trip in an effort to monitor the well-being of this special population. Additional reports will be seen here as time goes by and the Dolphin Study Team is proud to be of service to our community and other agencies around the world.

Bob is the lead Naturalist on board the dolphin survey vessel, Dolphin Explorer. He is the author of two books and a two-time award-winning columnist for Coastal Breeze News. Bob loves his wife very much!