Ep 41: Dolphins and Sargassum with Dr. Denise Herzing and Cassie Rusche

Dr. Denise Herzing is the Founder and Research Director of the Wild Dolphin Project and has studied Atlantic spotted dolphins in the Bahamian waters for over 35 years. In addition to many scientific articles, she is the co-editor of Dolphin Communication and Cognition, author of “Dolphin Diaries: My 25 years with Spotted Dolphins in the Bahamas” and “The Wild Dolphin Project (2002)”.

Cassie Rusche spends her summers living on a boat in the Bahamas studying wild dolphins. But 10 years ago, she thought she’d be working as a pharmacist. She started University as a pre-pharmacy student. However, after just a few short months of school and working in a pharmacy, she realized it was not for her. Eventually she discovered her real passion for understanding animal behavior. So, she switched to the ecology/evolution/organismal biology concentration and has been working for the Wild Dolphin Project since her graduation.

Wild Dolphin Project is the world’s longest running underwater study of dolphins in the world. Since 1985, the team has spent months out at sea every summer, living on boats and studying two species of dolphins that live on the shallow sandbanks of the Bahamas: Atlantic spotted dolphins and Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. Researchers have made many discoveries over the years regarding aspects of social structure, paternity, habitat use, behavior, communication, and movement patterns.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

• Introduction (2:39)
• What sargassum is to Dr. Denise and Cassie (4:59)
• How dolphins use sargassum (5:51)
• How dependent dolphins are on sargassum (8:45)
• Do dolphins use sargassum to clean themselves (10:15)
• Do the hydroids in sargassum cause irritation to dolphins like they do to humans (11:28)
• Studying dolphins in the wild vs captivity (12:15)
• Challenges of studying dolphins in the wild (15:11)
• Are dolphins bothered by the drones used to conduct observation and research (18:04)
• Time span and experiences on research trips (19:42)
• Dolphin behavior (22:04)
• Reproductive activity (27:10)
• Most memorable moments in the field (30:28)
• Debrief (36:22)

Transcript

Learn more about Dr. Denise Herzing and Cassie Rusche:
֍ Scientific Papers

֍ Wild Dolphin Project

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