Page 37 - Gateways_Spring2022_Neat

Before the study began, dolphins were trained to voluntarily wear an MTag biologging device on their back. Guidelines for using and training animals to accept
the MTags were developed by Stacey and her team. Brookfield Zoo’s dolphins contributed to the study by testing and helping to validate the MTag’s sensors.

Factors Related A total of 1,882 hours of data were collected from biologging
to Dolphin Welfare devices worn by the dolphins called MTags. The activity tracking
device accumulated information about an animal’s speed, depth,
The second stage of the Cetacean Welfare Study focused solely and movements under water that were difficult to discern by
on bottlenose dolphins and involved up to 60 dolphins at 31 facili- viewers and even harder to quantify. “The collected MTag
ties. “We wanted to look for relationships between behaviors that data were downloaded to a computer,” said Lauderdale. “Then
were likely indicative of animal welfare and habitat characteristics, we worked with Dr. Alex Shorter at the University of Michigan
enrichment programs, and training programs,” said Miller. to be able to process that data so we could graph it and analyze it.”
Participating facilities contributed several additional streams The combination of video and MTag data gave researchers
of data for this stage of the study. They included information detailed information about each dolphin’s social interactions,
from a survey of animal management practices. The survey— habitat use, and activity level. This included: dive duration,
which was created by experts in animal welfare, cetacean manage- distance traveled, activity level, time spent in the top and bottom
ment, and veterinary medicine—presented questions about the thirds of the habitat, number of species-specific behaviors, and
dolphins’ age, sex, habitat features, environmental enrichment, interactions with other dolphins and objects.
and training programs. From August 2018 through June 2020, researchers processed,
Data also included 546 hours of video. Individual dolphins summarized, and statistically analyzed the data. “We examined
were video recorded three times a week during each data collec- what kinds of behaviors the dolphins were engaging in and how
tion period. The videos were viewed by Lauderdale, research those behaviors were related to the training programs, the environ-
assistants, interns, and volunteers. “We looked at that video mental enrichment programs, and the habitat characteristics,”
and coded all the different behaviors we saw,” said Lauderdale. said Lauderdale.

BROOKFIELD ZOO | SPRING 2022 37