Earthwatch - Wild Dolphin Societies
Teachers in the Field

January 21, 2002


 
 
Ami, is a baby Pygmy Sperm whale, whose mother was stranded and died.  Ami survived her first year in a tank at Mote Aquarium Marine Mammal Hospital.

This morning, Mrs. McCorry and I woke early and rode our bikes to Mote because we had received permission to watch Ami get her weekly physical examination.

Ami was very docile and calm.  She seemed to really enjoy all the attention from the Mote staff. 

Ami circles the team as they ready the sling.

Ami enters the open sling on her own accord.

Ami is lifted and awaits the veterinarian, 
Dr. Howard Reinhart.

Ami receives her exam.

Ami receives her special milk formula.

This is a closer look at Ami's blowhole.

Ami has been let out of her sling and receives attention along with her milk.

This volunteer is taking down data on Ami all the while that the exam is going on.  That is the way of science!

Ti
Ti is a Green Sea Turtle that was found on Tidy Island, hence its name.  Notice the shell that is bloated.  It has an air pocket from an injury and Ti doesn't have full use of his back flippers.  Ti will need surgery in order to correct this problem.  Ti was swimming in the adjacent tank to Ami.
With Mrs. Kim Hull as our captain we left to search for dolphins.  We found several but not many.  The BIG question is "Where are they?"

Mrs. Hull explained that it was just as important in scientific research to document where dolphins are not to be found as where they are to be found.

How else can we learn their patterns of behavior and movement?

We found FB138, calf to FB68.  Mom and son were swimming together.

Mrs. Hull and Ann complete the Data Survey sheet.

Mrs. Hull plots from the GPS the boat tracks of today.

This map (printed from ArcView and our GPS marks) shows where we sighted dolphins, as well as where we didn't.  

The Dolphin Project's Lab manager shows us the database of the sightings.
 Data, data, data!  The stuff of SCIENCE!

This project has collected data on over 20,000 sightings of dolphins.  

It is amazing the amount ot information that is here on the population of bottlenose dolphins of Sarasota Bay.  They have names and are recognizable by their dorsal fins. 

To the staff at Mote, these animals and all that they care for are family. 

I'm looking forward to our long-distance video conference on Thursday morning!
Send on more questions!
Mrs. Johnson


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