WDP Research Associate Studies Shy, Elusive Species in the Pacific NW.

Little is known about the harbor porpoise, including their social structure. That’s why Cindy Elliser, Ph.D., research director and founder of Pacific Mammal Foundation (PacMam), launched a research project in 2014 to study this small coastal species off Fidalgo Island in Washington State. She recently published the first 3 years

Continue reading

Studying Behavior: From Observing To Understanding

At the Wild Dolphin Project, we’ve studied everything from dolphin communication, to social structure, genetics and ecology. One of the most common fields we cover is animal behavior, to examine topics such as interspecies aggression, feeding, and even teaching. In addition to gaining insight into the behavior of a species,

Continue reading

WDP in the Bahamas: A review

We know a lot of you have followed our work for awhile now — some of you since the very beginning —  and some of you have even been out with us on research expeditions. For the start of the new year, we’d like to  provide a review of what

Continue reading

10 Fascinating Dolphin Facts

This year, our blog has covered everything from highlighting aggressive behaviors to a“creature feature” on a unique species of dolphin, like the Amazon River Dolphin.  So, to wrap up the end of the year, this month’s blog is going to highlight 10 fun facts about dolphins. For instance, did you

Continue reading

Florida Day December 2nd

During our off season, September through April, we try to get out and monitor the SE Florida coast populations of Atlantic spotted dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. We have a NMFS permit to survey the SE Florida coast from Jupiter down to the Florida Keys.    We try to get out

Continue reading

Sargassum Seaweed, a Favorite Dolphin Toy

We talk a lot about sargassum seaweed being a favorite toy for the dolphins we study in the Bahamas, but what exactly does that mean? For our blog this month, we want to share more about this special seaweed, how the dolphins use it, and how we use it to

Continue reading

Meet the Board: President, Axel Stepan

We’ve decided to introduce you to our Board of Directors, to help you get a sense of the people who help the Wild Dolphin Project fulfill our mission! First up, is our current president, Axel Stepan.     After receiving his MBA in 1999, Axel started his career as an

Continue reading

2021 Field Season Summary

Following an almost non-existent 2020 field season due to COVID-19, we were anxious to start this year.  We did not have a full 2021 field season however, because every season has its bumps. But we did gather basic life history information and we saw plenty of dolphins!  We saw a

Continue reading

Celebrating the Amazon River Dolphin, for World Rivers Day

“The boto is an endangered species and we need to protect them before they are lost forever.” — Suzanne Smith, founder and director of ARDCF.  World Rivers Day, the last September Sunday, is a global celebration of the world’s waterways. So, here at the Wild Dolphin Project we’re highlighting a

Continue reading

Sharks? Boats? possibly Orcas?

This summer we observed many dolphins in our population with wounds. We try to keep track of scars and wounds because they can be used as identifiers throughout a dolphin’s life.  Usually a few dolphins each summer receive a new nick or scratch, but this summer we had at least

Continue reading