Owner: Dolphin Research Center URL:http://dolphinresearchcenter.blogspot.com Join Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:26:31 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: This is the blog of Dolphin Research Center, a nonprofit marine mammal education and research facility located on Grassy Key in the Florida Keys. We post information about our resident family of dolphins, our educational and interactive programs, conserv Site statistics:Click here
Why We Do Research 2008-06-23 09:13:34 Talon correctly chooses the board with fewer dots in our "Less" research study.
We’re frequently asked why we do research. What’s the point? There are lots of different reasons. Some of our research is observational. By studying our resident pod, we learn things about their general behavior, their physiology, their development. Sharing this knowledge with other scientists is helpful Read more:Research
DRC Helps Rescue Baby Manatee! 2008-06-17 12:50:57 DRC Medical Director Pat Clough assesses the baby manatee on scene after the rescue.
This little girl is believed to be only a few weeks old.
Personnel from Dolphin Research Center’s (DRC) ManateeRescue
Team joined with staff from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and Miami Seaquarium (MSQ) to rescue a baby female manatee on Sunday, June 15th. Residents in the
Iguana Action and the Dolphins 2008-06-16 07:30:01 In addition to our dolphin and sea lion family, a variety of other animals consider DRC home. Cats, tropical birds, peafowl, and chickens roam the grounds, as do a number of iguanas. It’s not uncommon to see the reptiles crawling around on rocks, in mangrove bushes, or walking down the boardwalks – even in the sea lion habitat. Sometimes, they realize that the shortest distance between wher Read more:Action
, Dolphins
Plastic and the Marine Environment 2008-06-13 09:30:08 Plastic is extremely damaging to the marine environment because it is not biodegradable. Plastic causes problems for marine animals that get entangled. Plastic particles, although they cannot be seen by the naked eye, become absorbed by plankton, and enter into the base of the marine food chain. When larger animals, such as dolphins, eat smaller animals such as fish, they accumulate larger Read more:Plastic
, Marine
, Environment
Best Buddies - Kibby and Delphi 2008-06-09 13:17:50 Whether playing with toys or being his charming self, Delphi
always gets our attention.
Kibby loves to practice behaviors in between sessions.
Practice makes perfect – or so Kibby might have thought. Recently in between sessions, Kibby practiced his vertical spin behavior for several minutes. Visitors and staff couldn’t help laughing to see Kib spinning around in the middle of his lagoon. Read more:Buddies
FAQ: How Long Do Dolphins Live? 2008-06-05 08:45:00 Theresa moved to DRC in 1968, after spending several years in the U.S. Navy.She's a charming, mature lady dolphin who is the mother of Santini and the grandmom of Tanner & Ras.
We’re frequently asked, “How long do dolphins live?” Well, obviously, they can live to great ages – like Theresa who is in her early 50s, or Delphi and Molly who are believed to be in their early 40s.
Even k Read more:Dolphins
Jax Joins the Front Lagoon! 2008-06-02 10:10:50 Jax loves jumping and diving in the lagoons. Now healed, his dorsal fin shows the results of the possible shark attack that injured him when he was about 6-8 months old in the St. John's River.
DRC’s newest family member, Jax, has joined Santini, Ras, Theresa, Tursi and Gypsi in the front lagoon. Jax is a juvenile male who was rescued over a year ago from the St. John’s River in Jacksonvill Read more:Front
, Lagoon
DolphinCamp and DolphinLab Spots Still Open! 2008-05-31 13:39:01 Whether you’re thinking about a career with marine mammals, or you simply love dolphins and want to learn more about them while having fun, you’re an excellent candidate for DolphinLab.
Here’s what a few of our previous students, parents and teachers said about their experience . . .
“I was blown away by this program. I learned more than I thought possible and am so excited to come back
Game On! 2008-05-28 13:44:10 Merina was ready to join in for some ring-toss fun!
What’s a holiday weekend without some good outdoor games? On Memorial Day, the group of dolphins in the front lagoon, led by Santini, engaged in a game of ring toss with Merina, Pandora and Cayo who are living in the lagoons next door. While trainers watched, someone in the front flung a toy ring across the fence. One of the girls in the
Splashing into the Blogosphere! 2008-05-28 13:01:33 Welcome to Dolphin Research Center's new web journal. This is an exciting new venture for us and we hope that it will be exciting for you, too.
Now celebrating our 24th year, Dolphin Research Center is a nonprofit marine mammal education and research facility, located in the heart of the Florida Keys. Twenty Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (including three adorable one-year-olds) and a Read more:Blogosphere
Adorable Meet 2008-05-27 09:24:32 Emily, one of our research trainers, recently had a number of young children join her, Tanner and AJ for a Meet the Dolphin program. One three year old girl was too scared to do the flippershake. After the other children did the behavior, Emily talked more to the little girl and the conversation was precious.
“I’ve known these guys for awhile,” Emily said. “They’re really cool.”
Read more:Adorable
How We Decide Which Dolphins Do Research 2008-07-07 11:58:53 Talon and Rainbow are only two of the many dolphins who have participated in research projects.
When observing one of our research sessions, guests often ask how we decide which dolphins take part in a particular study. It isn’t a question of purposely trying to pick the “smartest” dolphins in the family. After all, we think they’re all pretty smart!
Instead, we consider the entire Read more:Dolphins
, Research
New Aqualift Chair Installed! 2008-07-03 09:44:02 DRC recently installed a second “aqualift” chair. This special equipment is used to assist guests with special needs in and out of the water. The guest sits in the chair and is slowly, safely, lowered into the dolphins’ lagoon. This is a big help for guests who use wheelchairs, or who have any physical challenge that makes it difficult for them to negotiate up and down steps, sit on a flo Read more:Chair
The DRC Family 2008-06-26 07:36:07 Check out the DRC family pod on YouTube! Read more:Family
Set Your TVs or TiVos for DRC on GMA this Monday! 2008-07-22 09:11:03 UPDATE: GMA ran a segment called Keys to the Keys on Monday
, July 21st. DRC was included in that segment. Here's a link to ABC News where you can view the video.
Click here.
This coming Monday, July 21st, Good Morning America meteorologist Sam Champion is scheduled to broadcast live from Key West. As part of the morning show, they want to show some of the other terrific locations,
Be Good to Our Dolphin Friends! 2008-07-22 07:04:28 AJ reminds everyone that if you want to have a great time interacting with dolphins, visit Dolphin
Research Center. Don't jump in the water with wild dolphins!
Summertime means that many of you who live or take vacations in coastal areas spend a lot more time out on boats for fishing, diving, snorkeling, or other recreational activities. It’s always a thrill when you’re out on the ocean and Read more:Friends
From the Hearts of Children 2008-07-14 15:44:02 DRC’s Membership Department and Education Department have received wonderful letters from some of the dolphins’ youngest fans.
Kaleigh wrote to thank us for giving her information about endangered dolphins and then asked what she could do to help dolphins herself.
Lilian asked for some pictures of dolphins. She wants to make posters for her neighborhood field because people litter. Lilian Read more:Hearts
, Children
Learning to Train with Dolphins -- and Dogs! 2008-07-11 07:00:00 DolphinLab students working with Tanner and AJ during Advanced Marine Mammal Train
ing and Enrichment
A DolphinLab student trains a new behavior to a staff member's dog.
So many people tell us they dream of training dolphins. Not everybody gets to realize that dream but at Dolphin Research Center you can experience a lot of what is involved in working with these amazing animals.
We offer Read more:Learning
, Dolphins
DRC Gets Corny! 2008-08-07 09:39:18 DRC’s Gift Shop constantly looks for products that are good for the environment. We recently began carrying a line of goods that are made from corn! Corn is a terrific natural, biodegradeable, and renewable resource. This usage does not take a valuable product away from the country’s food supply. The type of corn used is field maize, and would not have been used for human consumption. Read more:Corny
Check Out DRC on Suze Orman's Website! 2008-07-31 16:17:41 Recently, internationally known financial expert, author, and television personality Suze Orman visited Dolphin Research Center with family. They enjoyed a fun-filled Dolphin Encounter with Tursi, Gypsi and Jax. We had a great time meeting them all!
Now Suze has shared her experience with her fans and audience via her electronic scrapbook. To view photographs and a video of Suze's visit to DRC Read more:Check
Did You Know? (Conservation Tip) 2008-07-30 10:17:01 Using less gas saves money and the environment.
If you want to save gas, not to mention money from a speeding ticket and increased insurance rates, don’t speed. Slowing down gains two to four miles per gallon more than zooming everywhere like a racecar driver.
Avoid the "drag strip" mentality. Getting to your destination safely is the winning goal and gunning it only wastes more ga Read more:Conservation
Dolphin Dreams Come True - Swimmingly 2008-07-26 10:09:02 We frequently hear from guests that interacting with dolphins is something they’ve dreamed of doing. Just recently, a visitor came out of her Dolphin
Encounter swim and proclaimed it something she’s wanted to do her whole life!
She wasn’t quite 11. Good to know that we can help fulfill the dreams of people young and old.
Another guest said to the trainer, “I can cross that off of my bu Read more:Dreams
DRC Survived Tropical Storm Fay! 2008-08-22 07:36:01 We're happy to report that everyone at DRC -- whether they live in water or on land -- survived TropicalStorm
Fay.
Winds at DRC hit gusts of up to 70 MPH with rainfall that reached 7" with an expected 2" to 4" additional over the next day or so. We got lucky with Fay and the structural damage was minimal - this time. The damage to our facilities included many downed tree limbs
Life's a Game & Everything's a Toy! 2008-08-19 10:56:02 Gypsi (top) & Jax (bottom) Ras When you’re a young dolphin, just about anything in your lagoon gets treated like a toy. Different types of sea weed or sea grass, mangrove seed pods, small rocks – the natural lagoons provide a never ending supply of cool things with which to play. We often see one or two of the kids tossing these objects Read more:Everything
DRC Connections Around the World 2008-08-14 11:05:11 One of the current Research interns recently applied for an intern position to assist with a humpback whale study in Australia. As it turns out, the person to whom she applied, and who eventually accepted her for the position, is a former DRC Research intern from 2004 who is a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland!
This reminded us that DRC might be located in the Florida Keys, but we Read more:World
DRC to Reopen Thursday after Hurricane Ike 2008-09-09 17:15:18 Luckily, Dolphin Research Center and all of the Florida Keys were spared a direct hit by Hurricane Ike. Over the course of a tense few days, while we constantly monitored forecast reports by the National Hurricane Center, the storm pushed further south over Cuba where it dropped in force to a Category 1.
All day on Tuesday, the Keys experienced gusty Tropical Storm force winds, rain showers, and Read more:Thursday
DRC Prepared for Hurricane Ike 2008-09-06 12:00:27 One of the most frequently asked questions we hear is, "How do you prepare for a hurricane?" Since Hurricane Ike is churning in our general direction, we think this is an appropriate time to blog on this topic. First, we'd like to assure everyone that DRC has a detailed, comprehensive hurricane preparedness plan that addresses the many issues we face as a facility. Senior management has
Did You Know? 2008-09-02 14:21:01 Paper accounts for roughly 38% of landfill content
Americans use more than 67 million tons of paper per year (about 580 pounds per person).
Every year more than 900 million trees are cut down to create paper and paper products.
Every Sunday, Americans throw away 90 percent of newspapers, which are recyclable. This wastes 500,000 trees!
Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons
Back to School 2008-08-28 14:20:57 This time of year, a young person's thoughts naturally turn toward heading back to school. At DRC, all of our dolphins, including our youngsters, enjoy learning new behaviors and games all year long. Cayo, Ras, Jax, Gypsi and her mother, Tursi, wish you an interesting, successful year in your studies. Remember -- you're never too young, or too old, to have fun learning! Read more:School
Kids Who Grew Up to Work Together 2008-09-29 14:44:17 We often talk about the fact that we are one family at Dolphin Research Center – footed, finned and flippered! Most of you know that we have two and three generations of dolphins. You might not realize, however, that we also have two generations of dolphin trainers. Kelly Jayne Rodriguez is the daughter of the DRC co-founders President/CEO Jayne Shannon Rodriguez and Executive Vice President
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