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Ocean Living
We would like to thank the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution's Protect Wild Dolphins Program for making this project possible
National Zoo scientists Kristi West, Olav Oftedal, and Regina Eisert are joining forces with Randall Wells of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program in a bit of scientific sleuthing. The mystery? Half the bottlenose dolphin calves born in the resident population of Sarasota Bay, Florida, fail to survive to maturity, and they want to know why.
We will be following this important conservation research project closely, bringing you the latest information about these remarkable animals, the life-and-death challenges confronting them, and the innovative way our team of scientists is investigating a wildlife crisis off our own shores.
Learn all about the biology of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), a remarkable species exhibiting high intelligence, and the environmental challenges confronting it and related species. 
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Meet our National Zoo scientists, all experts in marine mammal physiology and nutrition, and a world-renowned marine mammal biologist who has been studying Sarasota Bay’s bottlenose dolphin population for more than 35 years. more
Randall Wells’ previous research suggests that contaminants entering the Sarasota Bay ecosystem might be a significant cause of mortality, with the contaminants affecting young bottlenose dolphin more than adults. There is also the possibility that declining quantity and quality of prey in Sarasota Bay may be affecting both adult and calf nutrition to the extent that it negatively affects survivorship.
Our project is designed to test this hypothesis by studying bottlenose dolphins in the wild and in dolphinaria to determine the nutritional requirements of calves and whether the quality and quantity of their mothers’ milk is sufficient to meet these requirements. more
What We Knew Before and What We Know Now
Visit often to follow the progress of the project and learn how our scientists define the problem, acquire data, and gradually work their way toward understanding the causes of high infant mortality in the Sarasota Bay bottlenose dolphin population. more
