Blog 7: New Project!

I am very excited to be collaborating with Theresa in our dolphin research! In this project we will use evolutionary trees to study the evolution of this species while primarily focusing on their 'pods', or groups in which they live with others of the same species. This cladogram is helping us trace their ancestry based on mitochondrial DNA (mitochondria are the organelles in plant and animal cells that convert sugar into energy- the powerhouse of the cell!)-
 
We have learned many interesting facts about dolphin behavior thus far, including the following:

• Dolphins are agile and playful
• They live in social groups ranging from 5 to hundreds
• They use echolocation to find prey and often hunt together by surrounding a school of fish, trapping them and taking turns swimming through the school and catching fish
• Dolphins will also follow seabirds, other whales and fishing boats to feed opportunistically on the fish they scare up or discard
• Feeding usually takes place at dusk and dawn
• after birth a calf stays with its mother for around 3-6 years
• They interact with one another by carrying objects around, tossing seaweed to each other, vocalizing, etc

I most look forward to uncovering more facts about this amazing species because I think their interaction and lifestyle habits are very interesting. Here are some of the websites we have used for information so far if you would like to learn more and see where we got our facts: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/11/65/abstract

http://forwhattheywereweare.blogspot.com/2011/03/dolphin-mtdna-phylogeny.html

http://www.defenders.org/dolphin/basic-facts

http://www.dolphinresearch.org.au/bottlenose.php

http://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/bottlenose-dolphins/communication-and-echolocation/