40 years of Research on Anna Maria Island Area Dolphins...
It's been said that Dolphins and Anna Maria Island go together like beer and football, and it's true. Anyone that has traveled to this subtropical island on the Gulf of Mexico knows the local Dolphins are as at home as the Turtles.
It is very common to see Dolphins frolicking around in the waters surrounding our beautiful island.
Read Dolphins Playing on the Beaches of Anna Maria Island.
Read Dolphin Watching on Anna Maria Island.
Although Anna Maria Island Dolphins are a treasure for the locals and tourists alike, they are also of interest to a community of scientists tracking and studying them. There have been a number of Dolphins tagged off Anna Maria over the years in order to track their movements and hopefully learn a little bit more about them.
According to a recent story published earlier this year, one of these precious specimens had provided almost 40 years of information before washing up on a shore near Anna Maria Island.
The article said, "A female wild dolphin monitored for 38 years by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, based at Mote Marine Laboratory, died May 22, leaving behind two documented generations of offspring to continue her legacy."
"The 46-year-old dolphin, known as "FB5" by program scientists, was discovered on a sandbar near Longboat Key. Mote staff recovered the dolphin, which had succumbed to illnesses and injuries that apparently had plagued her for months."
"A necropsy, another term for an animal autopsy, provided further information indicating that FB5 had lost more than 100 pounds since her health began deteriorating. Her health was last assessed in 2001. Since that time, she had developed non-healing skin lesions and suffered from organ failure, shark bites and a stingray barb in her lung."
"We will all miss this old girl," said Dr. Randall Wells, Senior Scientist and manager of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program.
The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program is a partnership between the Chicago Zoological Society, Mote and the world's longest-running study of a wild dolphin population.
FB5 was tagged by Wells and his colleagues in March of 1971. According to Wells, she was one of the first dolphins tagged for identification by the group, which began monitoring Sarasota Bay's dolphins in 1970.
Data gathered by programs like the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program serve to inform marine mammal policy, research, conservation and education. By studying five generations of Sarasota Bay's 160 or so year-round resident dolphins, including FB5's calves and grandcalves, Program scientists continue what is now nearly four decades of research and learning about these amazing marine mammals.
According to Wells, monitoring dolphins such as FB5 to life's end is one way researchers gain crucial information and knowledge about their social dynamics, lifespan and conservation challenges. In the end, this information helps us, help them survive.
Wells went on to explain that, for example, over FB5's lifetime, scientists observed her 850 times and considered her a "core member" of Sarasota Bay's year-round dolphin community. He said FB5 was seen with five different calves. Two of her daughters have survived to date and produced three calves each so far.
FB5 spent much of her life swimming and playing with other females and calves in Palma Sola Bay and Anna Maria Sound. As she grew older in age, not in spirit, FB5 shifted her range south and socialized less, often swimming alone.
Wells said, "We cannot determine whether the observed changes in behavior were related to declining health."
Sarasota Dolphin Research Program scientists do know that FB5 lost a close associate, a 54-year-old dolphin known as Ms. Mayhem, in October 2008, following shark attacks.
These dolphins and other marine mammals recovered by Mote are valuable sources of knowledge even after death. Their bones become part of a collection of more than 600 marine mammal skeletons. There are more than 20 different species of whales, dolphins and porpoises in Mote's Ruth DeLynn Cetacean Osteological Collection.
Named for collection Curator Ruth DeLynn, a Mote volunteer, the collection is a record of detailed information about Sarasota Bay's dolphins. Tiny skeletal differences, including cavities in teeth, and signs of arthritis, injury and disease help scientists build detailed life histories for individual animals and the population as a whole.
If you are interested in learning more about the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, visit www.mote.org.
If you see a stranded or dead dolphin, whale, manatee or sea turtle, please call Mote's Stranding Investigations Program, a 24-hour response service, at 941-988-0212.
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