Social interactions of marine mammals in human care

 

Multi-facility project examining frequency, duration, participants, and different types of social interactions (e.g. affiliative, contact, aggressive, socio-sexual, courting) across multiple species (belugas, bottlenose dolphins, killer whales)

 

Collaborating facilities: SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaWorld San Diego, Georgia Aquarium, Shedd Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium, MarineLand of Canada, Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences, The Blue Lagoon Island, Home of Dolphin Encounters

 

Academic Collaborators: Dr. Michael Noonan, Dr. Deirdre Yeater, Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski of Dolphin Communication Project, Dr. Malin Lilley

 

Behavioral monitoring of rehabilitated non-releasable beluga

 

Continuous behavioral and acoustic monitoring of stranded, rehabilitated but non-releasable beluga calf housed at SeaWorld San Antonio

 

Collaborating facility: SeaWorld San Antonio

 

Collaborators: Dr. Manuel Castellote NOAA Affiliate 

 

Development of play and mother-calf interactions for marine mammals in human care

 

Multi-facility project examining different aspects of play (water, object, social, locomotor) and mother-calf interactions (e.g. affiliative, contact, aggressive, socio-sexual, maternal care, nursing, contact) across multiple species (belugas, bottlenose dolphins, killer whales)

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Collaborating facilities: SeaWorld San Antonio, Georgia Aquarium, Shedd Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium, MarineLand of Canada, Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences

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Academic Collaborators: Dr. Michael Noonan, Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski of Dolphin Communication Project; Dr. Sergio Pellis

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Spatial use study of dolphins in managed care

 

Activity level and location of bottlenose dolphins in human care are being assessed at several different facilities to understand the influence of human presence under different conditons.

 

Collaborating facilities: Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences, The Blue Lagoon Island, Home of Dolphin Encounters

 

Academic Collaborators: Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski of Dolphin Communication Project

 

Multi-species study of familiarity and violation of expectations with different stimuli

 

Presented different types of stimuli (objects and humans) to three species of marine mammals (belugas, bottlenose dolphins, Pacific white-sided dolphins to assess interest, gaze duration, and visual lateralization. 

 

Collaborating facilities: SeaWorld San Antonio, Shedd Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium

 

Academic Collaborators: Dr. Deirdre Yeater

 

Executive Functioning

 

Bottlenose dolphins are being assessed on their ability to show preferences for specific reinforcers with the goal to assess delay capabilities.

 

Collaborating facilities: The Blue Lagoon Island, Home of Dolphin Encounters

 

Academic Collaborators: Dr. Deirdre Yeater, Dr. Lauren Highfill. Dr. Dawn Melzer, Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski of Dolphin Communication Project

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Innovation under stimulus control

 

Multi-species project in which marine mammals in human care are trained to “innovate” in their behavior with or without objects Cross-species comparisons, learning history, and degree of novelty are being examined among other outcomes.

 

Collaborating facilities: SeaWorld San Antonio, Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences, Marineland of France, Loro Parque

 

Academic Collaborators: Dr. Deirdre Yeater, Dr. Dawn Melzer, Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski of Dolphin Communication Project

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Impact of Fish Conditioning on Care and Psychology of Learning Content

 

Undergraduate students care for and condition pet fish as part of their learning course each semester. Course content knowledge and other aspects of animal interactions are currently being investigated.

 

Collaboration: Dr. Deirdre Yeater, Sacred Heart University

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Impact of immersive, international field study for undergraduate students

 

Undergraduate students from multiple universities participating in an immersive, international field study are being assessed for their interest in research, confidence in conducting research, environmental attitudes, and knowledge about research.

 

Collaborations: Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski of Dolphin Communication Project; Dr. Melissa Karlin

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Representation of parenting in cartoons

 

The role of parents in cartoons across different programs has been assessed; Gender roles, social interactions, characteristics of all characters are being evaluated.

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Representation of gender roles and ethnicity in age-specific cartoons

 

The gender roles, social interactions, characteristics of all characters are being evaluated across age-specific cartoons (e.g., toddler, preschool, elementary, tween, teen, and adults.