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May

3

2007
 
 

How cool does Flipper get?



New devices measure heat loss in wild dolphins It's cool being a dolphinHow do dolphins chill out? We could soon know, thanks to scientists at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. Writing in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology the marine biologists, led by Andrew Westgate, describe two newly developed electronic gizmos that capture heat flow data under natural conditions. The units – mounted to the animal’s dorsal fin – were successfully tested on bottlenose Tursiops truncatus and spotted Stenella attenuata dolphins. Although the indignant cetaceans understandably do their best to dump the harmless datalogger, Westgate’s group reckon they should obtain sufficient temperature readings to understand the thermal tribulations dolphins face. Source: Westgate AJ, McLellan WA, Wells RS, Scott MD, Meagher EM & Pabst DA (2007) A new device to remotely measure heat flux and skin temperature from free-swimming dolphins. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology DOI: 10.1016/j.jembe.2007.02.014 Related story in Conservation magazine: Email, Phone, Data: All in One Fish Image © Martin Purmensky

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