Stories of Survival: Marco Dolphins

In every facet of the animal kingdom, there tends to be an amazing encounter of species that defy the odds and live through traumatic events. Close encounters with predators, young separated from a parent but finding their way home and other young that lost a parent but have the will to survive. These adventures don’t just happen on animal documentary shows. They can happen right here on Marco Island!

The dolphin study team on board the Dolphin Explorer is constantly documenting events that happen to the local bottlenose dolphins here in our area. Since 2011 the team has been involved in two dolphin rescues and several near rescue scenarios. They have also helped Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC) identify several dolphins that have lost their lives.

Back to the close calls - a young male named Ariel comes to mind. At just two months old, this little one had some fishing line entangled on his dorsal fin (the fin on a dolphin’s back that you see when it surfaces to breathe). Most fishing line is made of nylon and can cut through flesh very easily. It was already beginning to work its way through Ariel’s fin. 

Photos by the team provided evidence that the dorsal fin could be completely removed if intervention did not take place. While plans for a rescue and removal of the line were being set in motion, somehow, the line became disentangled, freeing Ariel from his predicament. However, he has scars on his fin, but it does not impede his ability to perform any of his regular functions. Ariel is now four and a half years old and is doing well on his own.

Another victim of a fishing line incident took place less than one year ago. Eight-year-old Scamp had some line cut through the center of the fin from top toward the bottom. There are no bones in a dolphin dorsal fin to hold it in place, so the heavier portion of Scamp’s fin folded over, leaving a small, pyramid shaped portion of the fin upright. This open wound had to be painful for this one for a few months but Scamp was quickly back to being as spry and playful as ever.

In both of the above cases, damage to a dorsal fin does not have long-term effects on a dolphin’s ability to perform its daily duties. They can make adjustments for any damage or loss to this fin. Life will go on just fine.

One other fishing line victim was an adult female named Jing Jing. Not long after giving birth to a new calf named Jordan, this young lady was seen with fishing line wrapped around her dorsal fin. However, in this case, the line extended down her body and was tightly tangled around her tail fin. She was in obvious distress and not swimming normally because of the strain of the line on her body. With a young calf to feed, this could have been a disaster! In a very short while the line somehow released itself from the tail fin but in the coming weeks, the remaining line around her dorsal fin did take a small portion of that fin off. Again, it is not a major loss if some of the dorsal fin is removed. The importance here is that Jing Jing was free to feed herself and produce milk for her young Jordan.

On April 4th, Naturalist Bob from the Dolphin Explorer will talk about these and other amazing stories of our area cetaceans. Doors open at 5:30 PM so arrive early at Marco Island’s Historical Society Rose Auditorium for an evening of fun information and fantastic true stories of survival.