Partnering with Dolphin Quest Oahu
Traveling across the country to study bottlenose dolphins at a facility focused on animal welfare
As a student in the Learning from Whales Bass Connections team, it has been a dream to spend a semester at the Duke Marine Lab: dolphins frequent the bordering estuary and deeper divers like the goose-beaked whale are a short boat trip away. With this astonishing proximity to the cetaceans I am studying, it might seem counterintuitive that I boarded a plane and flew all the way across the country to join a two week long research trip in Oahu. Why would I leave the Atlantic behind for the island of Oahu?
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In Oahu, I worked with Dr. Ashley Blawas, a marine mammal physiologist who recently completed her doctoral degree at the Duke Marine Lab, to study hypoxic preconditioning in bottlenose dolphins. In human medicine, ischemic preconditioning is an established surgical protective technique that reduces tissue damage and improves postoperative recovery time for patients. During many surgical procedures, blood flow to the organ of focus must be stopped. Since blood usually transports oxygen throughout the body, the lack of blood can lead to a state of hypoxia within that organ. To ‘condition’ the body to this low oxygen state, surgeons precede the long surgical occlusion with short, repeated occlusions followed by a return to normal blood flow (Murry et al., 1986; Yellon et al., 1993). While in Oahu, Dr. Blawas and I examined whether deep diving cetaceans might use a similar technique by preceding their deepest dives with short, repeated breath holds to help their bodies survive these long periods of hypoxia.
Dr. Ashley Blawas and I worked closely with the Dolphin Quest Oahu staff to ensure the dolphins' welfare was being upheld while conducting research on site.
To investigate this hypothesis, we partnered with Dolphin Quest Oahu to conduct blood sampling across preconditioning trials. Dolphin Quest is a facility that was opened by two veterinarians to foster engagement with environmental stewardship among members of the public through interactive dolphin experiences, while keeping the dolphins’ welfare at the heart of their work. Supporting marine research is also key to Dolphin Quest’s mission. Scientists from across the world travel to their facility and, with guidance from Dolphin Quest staff, conduct studies with the dolphins.
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On my first day, I was slightly wary about working with animals under human care. As an aspiring aquatic animal veterinarian, I did not want our research to jeopardize the dolphins’ health and wellbeing in any way. However, I immediately learned that the staff’s number one priority was the animals. The staff were unafraid to let us know if there was anything they felt would be outside of the dolphins’ comfort zones. They even went so far as to let the dolphins choose whether they wanted to participate in research that day — there were a few days when some chose not to participate and the dolphins’ choices took precedence over the science.
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Partnering with Dolphin Quest Oahu gave Dr. Blawas and I the opportunity to collect blood samples during preconditioning trials, which is nearly impossible in the wild. At Dolphin Quest, the dolphins have been trained to behave in certain ways for blood draws since they were young, because it is an important behavior for their regular veterinary check-ups. This not only allowed us to collect the blood samples, but also conduct our research in a controlled environment where the samples were unconfounded by a stress response.
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Dolphin Quest Oahu is located next to the outdoor pools at a beachfront resort in Oahu, so anyone at the resort or on the island can easily watch the dolphins and research being conducted. While we were working, we frequently had people asking us questions. They were curious about what we were doing and eager to learn more. By interacting with the public this way, I felt like the research we were doing was making a difference, even before we had analyzed any samples.
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Now that I am back at the Duke Marine Lab, I feel lucky that my first experience working with dolphins under human care was a positive one. Having experienced the harmonious relationship between the dolphins, the staff, the public, and us researchers at Dolphin Quest Oahu, I know that working with dolphins can bring great benefits for research without jeopardizing dolphins’ wellbeing, making me want to continue working with facilities like it throughout my future.
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References
Murry, C. E., Jennings, R. B., & Reimer, K. A. (1986). Preconditioning with ischemia: A delay of lethal cell injury in ischemic myocardium. Circulation, 74(5), 1124–1136. doi:10.1161/01.cir.74.5.1124
Yellon, D. M. Alkhulaifi, A. M., & Pugsley, W. B. (1993). Preconditioning the human myocardium. The Lancet, 342(8866).