|
||
|
|
|
|
Press Releases | |
March 1, 2004
In Search of Dolphins in Coastal Costa Rica
Southampton College Students Study Social Interactions of Marine Cetacean MammalsContact:
Patricia Conway
631-287-8313Southampton, NY - This past January, fifteen students from Southampton College of Long Island University traveled to the tiny village of Manzanillo, on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, to study social interactions between two species of dolphins as part of a course on wild dolphin behavior.
The annual winter trip, now in its seventh year, is headed by Dr. Paul Forestell, Associate Professor of Psychology at Southampton College and an expert in dolphin and whale behavior. Forestell led the group in an ongoing study of the unusual observation of inter-species mating between the ubiquitous bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the little known tucuxi dolphin (Sotalia fluviatilis), two species found along the coastal area of the Gandoca Wildlife Reserve in Costa Rica.
The research group went out on the water every day in small research boats, driven by local captains, and documented the behaviors of the resident dolphins using photographs, video, and written data records. This year, beautiful weather and frequent dolphin sightings made the work particularly productive and exciting. Continuing on the research of previous teams, Forestell and his students have identified more than 150 individual dolphins, and have developed a catalog of those dolphins along with a detailed listing of their sightings since 1998. The project is showing that a small sub-set of bottlenose dolphins, working in coalitions of two or three animals, move reproductively active female tucuxi away from their groups, and attempt to mate with them. The tucuxi engage in avoidance behaviors and male tucuxi display aggressive behaviors toward the bottlenose when they approach. At times, successful attempts to mate did appear to occur, although it is not yet known whether hybrid offspring resulted.
On days when the weather prevented boat surveys, the students went sea kayaking across the crystalline waters, snorkeling on the local reefs, hiking along unexplored beaches or horseback riding. The students also took a guided tour of the jungle where they observed spiders, howler monkeys, bullet ants, toucans and spider monkeys. They also feasted on sugar cane and other natural growing food.
Forestell, who serves as vice president of Pacific Whale Foundation, a Maui-based whale research and education organization, and a research associate with the Talamanca Dolphin Foundation, an organization dedicated to the wild dolphins and people of the Talamanca region, along Costa Rica's southeast Atlantic coast, plans to go back in January 2005 with a new group of researchers. At Southampton College, he teaches an introduction to psychology course, as well as courses in physiological psychology, experimental animal learning and cetacean communication.