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Did you know that dolphins and manatees socialize with each other in Belize?!?!?!?

While Jazmin is busy raising funds so that we can get back into the field this summer, Brittany, another of my graduate students at NSU's Oceanographic Center, is finishing up her MS Capstone on Manatee and Dolphin Inter-Specific Socialization. There is not much in the literature on this subject, but we have witnessed it first hand a dozen or more times in the Drowned Cayes study area in Belize over the past 15 years. We are collaborating with other researchers in Belize and other parts of the Caribbean to gather anecdotal data with a plan to publish a note on the subject later this year. Here is just one story & photo:

July 2, 2003 11:08 AM: We're pretty bored...been sitting here watching one lone manatee resting in the manatee resting hole in Spoonbill Cove. It's like watching seagrass grow. The manatee rises and takes a breath, we see just the very tip of its snout...then it sinks back down for 5 minutes. Then rises and takes a breath again, about once every 5 minutes. Then, one of our students sights a dolphin about 200 meters away in the main channel of Bogue E. The dolphin slowly makes it way into Spoonbill Cover, foraging for fish up under the mangrove roots. As it swam past the resting hole, the lone manatee ceased its resting behavior and began following the dolphin! After a few minutes these two individuals from totally unrelated species swam together, side-by-side traveling out of Spoonbill cove and into Bogue E, a major channel running through the Drowned Cayes. We slowly followed these animals for over an hour, when suddenly, from out of nowhere...a second manatee joined the pair! So, we followed and watched all 3 individuals for almost another hour before ending the observation!


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About This Project

Has increased tourism in Belize impacted the dolphin population? In the late 1990s, Self-Sullivan and her peers determined that mangrove cayes provided foraging and nursery habitat for dolphins and manatees in Belize. It was predicted that increasing cruise ship tourism would have negative effects on the dolphin population. With your help, we will test that hypothesis and determine changes in the population structure, habitat use, and behavior.

Blast off!

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