About This Project
California sea lions wash up along our Pacific Coastline every year, often malnourished, many starving, or because they've been exposed to marine toxins, parasites, or physical traumas. Many are rescued by The Marine Mammal Center, north of San Franscisco. To aid in their health assessments, we wish to assess their social behaviors before they're released back into the ocean. Right now, several malnourished yearlings are recovering at the Center.Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionWhat is the context of this research?
Each year, California sea lions wash up along the California coastline. Juveniles can beach malnourished, unable to find enough food. Adults beach with seizures, odd behaviors, high parasite loads and injuries. Often delivered to the TMMC, they are treated and often released back into the ocean. Some sea lions don't fully recover and die at sea. Others return to the coastline, often readmitted with the same problem.
My lab video tapes sea lions at TMMC during various stages of their recovery. Right now, TMMC is treating malnourished juveniles. By studying them, we will learn more about the social behaviors of these intelligent marine mammals. Practically, our assessments might help TMMC better identify juveniles that can be successfully released into the ocean.
What is the significance of this project?
Our study has three functions. (1) It's an effort to develop a broader set of diagnostic tools to help TMMC decide which sea lions might be released. (2) It allows us to carefully observe a large number of subjects of an extraordinarily smart species while they are inside their pens. Unlike the experiences of laboratory primates, often raised in small cages, our sea lions are free to develop in their natural environment rich with experiences of rewards and adversities, just like humans. This provides opportunities for full brain development simply not possible for conventional laboratory animals. (3) Since sea lions are exposed to high levels of pollutant mixtures, our preliminary studies may some day allow use to ask how various exposures affect social behaviors.
What are the goals of the project?
We will develop a series of discrete scores for identifiable social behaviors (a social ethogram) to assess juvenile behaviors. Dependent variables will include duration and frequency of social approach, coordinated swimming, aggression, and social withdrawal. The ethogram will be based upon video recordings of 2-4 sea lions within a single pen at TMMC.
All videotaped subjects will be evaluated. We expect to evaluate approximately 30 subjects.
Broadly, we will elucidate features of juvenile sea lion sociality.
Specifically, ethogram scores will be compared with clinical assessments and against survival data upon release (to the extent that these data become available). We expect that some subjects will present with symptoms suggestive of domoic acid exposure.
Budget
To conduct project well, we need to obtain as many videos of sea lions as we can get (ideally a sample size of over 30). Currently, we have 2 video cameras that monitor 2 pens at the Center. Since the Center can place 4 animals in each pen, our cameras allow us to watch 8 animals at a time. Since the sea lions cannot be transferred readily between pens, we see just a fraction of the number of malnourished pups at The Marine Mammal Center.
Each camera costs us $ 1,300. These cameras are expensive because they can withstand brutal outdoor conditions, can record at night, and can send us back the video recordings to our lab in Portland, Oregon. We are asking for funding for one camera to increase our sample size by 50%. We would be delighted to have additional funding for more cameras.
This project provides an exciting opportunity for undergraduate students. As a result, students volunteer just to learn more about our science. However, to evaluate sea lion social behaviors, students need to spend long hours watching behaviors and pressing keys on the keyboard to tally those behaviors. We need funding for Mac Book Pro laptops. The program we use to rate social behaviors runs only on Apple computers. Each Mac Book Pro costs $1,200. We are asking for funding for one computer but would be delighted to have additional funding for a second one. Each computer allows us to bring one more student into the project.
We also need support for data storage, which can be significant. Data storage should cost about $800.
Finally, to optimize communication between my lab and The Marine Mammal Center, we are asking for funding for a trip for Dr. Lahvis from Portland to the Center.
Meet the Team
Team Bio
Dr. Lahvis has extensive experience in animal research, with master's degrees in behavioral ecology and toxicology, a PhD in immunology and post-doctoral training in genetics. He has publications in marine mammal biology, immunology, genetics, social behavior, and autism research.Prior to obtaining his PhD, Garet Lahvis worked for several years with bottlenose dolphins to determine whether their exposures to pollutants might be a risk factor for their extensive die-offs along the Atlantic Coast during the late 1980's and early 1990's. He has a long standing interest in autism because it captures his interests in social awareness and motivation.
Dr. Lahvis is particularly interested in how animals perceive and respond to their social environment and is eager to apply the many tools used to study lab animals to understand sentience in wild animals.
Press and Media
Honors2014 First prize in the Curt Johnson Prose Award in Creative Nonfiction. december magazine.
2011 Research described in ‘Quirk’ Hannah Holmes, Random House 288 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4000-6840-1
2010 Research described in ‘Biocidal: Confronting the Poisonous Legacy of PCBs’ Theodore Michael Dracos, Beacon Press 294 pp. ISBN: 978-0-8070-0612-2
2009 Research described in NEWSWEEK Russia
2009 “Social Reward among Juvenile Mice” identified as Key Paper in Psychology by Genes, Brain, and Behavior
2009 Interview with the Jefferson Exchange, Jefferson Public Radio, Ashland
2009 Interview with KOIN TV. Portland, OR
1999 NIH National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellowship
1997 Research described in Our Stolen Future : How We Are Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence and Survival. Colborn, Dr. Theo; Dumanoski, Dianne; Meyers, John Peter Plume. 304 pp. ISBN 0-452-27414-1 (1997).
1991 Research Award, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
1990 Research Award, American Oceans Campaign
1986 Award for Outstanding Performance, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1984 Student Research Award, American Museum of Natural History
1984 Student Research Award, Sigma Xi Scientific Society
Project Backers
- 5Backers
- 5%Funded
- $175Total Donations
- $35.00Average Donation