"Overall, I like to think that looking at the behavior of another
animal species is like having a gigantic jigsaw puzzle where you've lost the
box, so you don't know what the big picture is. Then each time you get a piece
that fits, you get another clue as to what that picture is. It's a slow process,
but it's fun. "
Kathleen Dudzinski
Director and Founder of The Dolphin Communication Project
Executive Summary:
Kathleen Dudzinski joined Cyberways and Waterways to share her discoveries and
research with dolphin communication. Here are some highlights:
Marine Biology Careers
- Learn as much as you can about the various topics relating to dolphins--maybe
their biology, behavior, conservation, various topics--because in this day
and age, it's not really sufficient to say, "I love dolphins and I want to
study dolphins." You need to focus and clarify what you want to study and
learn.
- There are research opportunities for high school students, but it depends
upon where you live. There are various field programs; for example, Oceanic
Society Expeditions offers a high school program in the Bahamas. There are
other field school programs through various aquaria. Also, Duke University
has a field school in North Carolina, but double check that. I think the opportunities
are there, but you have to search them out at your local library, museum or
aquarium.
- I got started by doing an internship with a whale-watching company in Gloucester,
Massachusetts. From then on, I knew that was what I wanted to do, so I read
as much as I could and then applied and wrote to different professors whose
papers I'd read to see if I could volunteer or intern with them.
- While in school, I needed to learn how to write, prepare grant proposals,
and write up the results of my data so other people--scientists and the general
public--could understand them. I've learned how to do a variety of different
statistical analyses.
- If you want to study larger animals like dolphins, there's work in the
arena where dolphins are in human care--trainers, managers, water quality
experts. But there's also a huge range of topics in marine science that doesn't
revolve around dolphins. There's benthic ecology, which is basically looking
at animals that live on the sea floor. There's open ocean work, the study
of invertebrates.
Dolphin Communication Research
- The machine I use is called the mobile video acoustic system and lovingly
I refer to it as my array. It doesn't actually reduce the speed of sound for
dolphins. It records their sounds and behaviors simultaneously so I can watch
a videotape with left and right stereo sound and get a good idea of who's
making that sound. This is important because sound travels 4.5 times faster
in water compared to air, and dolphins are swimming ventriloquists.
- No, I do not touch the dolphins when I swim with them. In fact, I'm probably
one of the only people on the planet who prefers that the dolphins ignore
me. The main reason is that I want to observe dolphin-to-dolphin interaction
and communication, and I would like to observe them interacting with one another,
not with people.
- We're not sure why, but they can be. I think it's good to know because
dolphins are a social mammal, and one side of being a social mammal is a happy
and good side, but another is the aggression, the fighting. All that together
makes a well-rounded individual. Meaning a dolphin. (smile)
- To me, studying the communication or behavior of another animal species,
specifically dolphins, it seems that each bit of observation gives you another
picture of what's going on. It's a glimpse into their lives. They can be affectionate
or aggressive. I've seen males herding females. I've seen juvenile dolphins
ferret out an octopus from a rock crevice. I don't think the octopus had much
fun, but the dolphins did, bouncing it around like a ball.
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