Dolphin Study Third Quarter Results

September 30th ended the third quarter of the year for the 10,000 Islands Dolphin Study Project on board the Dolphin Explorer. In an ongoing study of the local, non-migratory bottlenose dolphin population it was an exciting nine months! Here are some of the excerpts from the most recent quarterly report that is shared with colleges, other dolphin studies and more. 

From January 1st through September 30th, the team documented 3,644 individual sightings of 128 different, identifiable dolphins. These sightings took place over 327 excursions. The team identifies each dolphin by the unique nicks and notches on the dorsal fin when a dolphin surfaces for air. It is like each dolphin’s personal fingerprint, no two fins are exactly alike. Dolphins are documented on a daily basis and data is recorded of each sighting for historical records. The team has 17 years of information regarding our dolphins.

The habitat studied is primarily the 10,000 Islands, Rookery Bay and the Gulf of Mexico shoreline. The mangrove forest here is the dolphins’ home with plenty of food for all. The shallow waters make it easier to catch fish as opposed to deep water dolphins that need to stay together in larger groups or pods, so the dolphins here are very individualistic in catching their next meal.

The team has worked with and assisted Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) as well as NOAA to rescue and/or identify dolphins in need of assistance and to also provide historical data of individuals that are injured or deceased.

The adult male population has three dominant “Male Pair Bonds” whereby two males team together primarily for the purpose of mating with females. This pairing shows dominance to females, who want the strongest males to father their offspring. There is an emerging Fourth Pair Bond now entering the population. Expect a few fights to take place!

During this late Summer early Fall primary birthing season, the team has documented two new calves born to local moms. Young female birthed her very first offspring and it was named Kai. Phineas’ mom is Patch’s Twin and she is now a first-time grandmother, the sixth known grandma in our study area. There are 13 more adult females that are potentials to give birth from now through December, so the team anticipates that they might see six to eight more calves.

Several adult females that have calves turning two years old are now able to mate again since the calves have stopped nursing. These females will be very high on our list to give birth next Fall. The pregnancy period is 12 months.

Environmentally, Hurricane Ian impacted our area on September 28, 2022. The dolphins did seek refuge from the eight to nine-foot storm surge experienced in the Marco River. After a few months all but three of our resident population had returned home. An adult female named Sydney has not been seen since then. Also, adult female Halfway and her 21-month-old calf Cubbie were not present. However, Cubbie returned to his feeding area in February of this year, but mom Halfway was not with him. Cubbie has several brothers and sisters here, so the social aspect of life was an easy adjustment and, now 26 months old, he was able to fish on his own. The team has hopes that mom Halfway is still out there, hopefully returning home this Fall, where she has birthed seven offspring.

Of special note, our team located a 19-month-old calf last April with fishing line wrapped around its tail. After monitoring this youngster for two weeks and sending info to FWC and NOAA, the injury was deemed “life-threatening” and a successful rescue ensued. This calf, named Fergie, turned two years old last month and is doing well. 

On June 7th, a call came to us and our investigation resulted in the sighting of a Pygmy Whale, about eight feet long, in the Factory Bay area. Immediate calls to FWC followed and plans for a rescue were in place.

The team’s motto of “Passion, Integrity and Education” assures that the 10,000 Islands Dolphin Study Project will continue to collect data accurately and will record their information to share with other institutions, thus offering insight of dolphin behavior, abundance, travel range, survival rate, genealogy and overall well-being to those entities. Our study continues….