Timely detection and understanding of causes for population decline are essential for effective wildlife management and conservation. Assessing trends in population size has been the standard approach, but we propose that monitoring population health could prove more effective. We collated data from 7 bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops trun catus) populations in the southeastern United States to develop a method for estimating surv...

Multiple techniques have been used for estimating age in bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ). The longest established technique is via counts of growth later groups (GLGs) in the longitudinal section of an extracted mandibular tooth. Previous studies to validate GLGs have primarily used younger dolphins (less than 16yrs old) due to the limited number of known age older animals. This study assessed the accuracy of age es...

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) disaster resulted in large-scale contamination of bays, sounds, and estuaries in the northern Gulf of Mexico, home to multiple stocks of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Inhalation, aspiration, ingestion, and dermal absorption of oil and its toxic components were all considered possible routes of exposure for dolphins living within the oil spill footprint. To determine if dolphins we...

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill exposed common bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ) in Barataria Bay, Louisiana to heavy oiling that caused increased mortality and chronic disease and impaired reproduction in surviving dolphins. We conducted photographic surveys and veterinary assessments in the decade following the spill. We assigned a prognostic score (good, fair, guarded, poor, or grave) for each dolphin to...

Although previous studies have described progesterone profiles during pregnancy in the bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ), most of these focused on normal pregnancy (NORM) or compared NORM to only one or two abnormal pregnancy types, such as abortion (AB) or perinatal loss (PNL). Hormonal pregnancy biomarker analysis from reproductive events with different outcomes may reveal differences in concentrations so that we are...