Sponsored in cooperation with the Earthwatch Institute

Sarasota, Florida

Go on, admit it. On some level you think dolphins might be smarter than you. They live in a medium that is completely foreign to us, they have brains that are proportionally as large as ours, and they have physical and mental adaptations that are completely beyond our experience. But because most of their lives happen out of our sight, we seem destined to guess about it.

Or at least that would be the case if it weren't for Dr. Randy Wells (Chicago Zoological Society and Mote Marine Laboratory) and Sue Hofmann, a senior biologist at Mote, have been studying the 100 dolphins of Sarasota Bay, Florida, for 28 years, and they know more about these dolphins and their behavior than anyone on Earth. They can tell you if a group of dolphins near the shore is a school of teen-age males fooling around, a group of related females and their calves chasing mullet, or a pair of males investigating a receptive female. What's more, they can recite family trees and medical histories, describe range and social patterns, and report births, deaths, immigrations, and emigrations. In fact, much of what we know about bottle nose dolphin society, population dynamics, and impacts from human activities comes from this hallmark study. With a doctorate from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and 50 publications to date, Wells is one of the world's most respected cetologists. During her 17 years' experience at Mote, Hofmann has also been involved in sea-turtle conservation and analyzing environmental contaminants.

You can contribute to the longest-running wild-dolphin study in the world. The meat and potatoes of this project is counting the dolphins you encounter in your six-meter outboard, identifying each, and noting behavior in various schools. There are some dolphins Wells has sighted more than 600 times, and for each he has a record. That kind of continuity is invaluable in establishing trends. Not only has this project served as a model for other cetacean studies, but the results provide a baseline of an apparently healthy bottlenose population against which to compare the health and social behavior of other wild populations and of captives. The study's long-term physical records have helped as well as in determining the physiology and pathology of stranded animals, aiding in their recovery and helping prevent further strandings.

• 2 0 0 0 . T E A M S

• IV: Jan 10-21 •IVa: Jan 10-15 • IVb: Jan 16-21 • V: Feb 7-18 • Va: Feb 7-12 • Vb: Feb 13-18 • VI: Mar 6-17 • VIa: Mar 6-11 • VIb: Mar 12-17 • VII: Apr 10-21 • VIIa: Apr 10-15 • VIIb: Apr 16-21 • VIII: May 8-19 • VIIIa: May 8-19 • VIIIb: May 14-19 • IX: Jun 12-23 • IXa Jun 12-17 • IXb : Jun 18-23 • X: Jul 17-23 • Xa: Jul 17-22 • Xb: Jul 23-28 • XI: Aug 14-25 • XIa: Aug 14-19 • XIb: Aug 20-25 • XII: Sep 11-22 • XIIa: Sep 11-16 • XIIb: Sep 17-22 • Max team size: 10

• M E M B E R S ' . S H A R E . O F . C O S T S
from US $995 • £640 • Aus$1,530 • Yen ¥116,800

• R E N D E Z V O U S . S I T E
Bimini Island Air, Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, Florida

• V O L U N T E E R T A S K S

By 8:30 most mornings, you'll have grabbed breakfast and gear-sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, data sheets, lime-flavored water, binoculars, sandwich lunch, film-and headed for the dock. You're on the water until 5 or later and may see as many as 15 different schools a day (each with up to 20 dolphins). You approach each slowly and stay at an unobtrusive distance. The crew takes turns sighting dolphins, noting their behavior, location, and numbers, filling out photo logs and environmental data forms (weather, water temperature, etc.), and keeping the staff loaded with film. Staff will take ID photos of the unique shape and nicks, scars, freezebands, or coloring of each dolphin's dorsal fin. The photographs will be compared later with previous fin shots at the lab. In addition, crews will examine the impact of boat traffic on dolphins.

Wells and Hofmann run a tight ship; you'll know exactly what you have to do. For 12-day teams, expect 8 days on the water, along with preparing film mailers, labeling and filing slides, trying your hand at identifying individuals by matching dorsal fins, and entering data. You may even help care for stranded dolphins at Mote's dolphin hospital.

• F I E L D . C O N D I T I O N S
Home is a comfortable, two-bedroom duplex with all the amenities, across the street from Lido Key beach, where you can walk for miles. You'll watch pelicans crash into the sea right from the living room window. Everyone pitches in on meals on a rotating basis, producing pasta, stir-fries, Mexican fare, and many surprises.