Page 31 - Gateways_2017-2018 Winter

Life in
the Ocean

A recent transplant
from Peoria, Illinois,
Randy Wells was 16
years old when he
began volunteering
at Mote Marine
Laboratory, located on Siesta Key
off Sarasota, Florida. That’s when he entered the
world of research and conservation by studying
shark-dolphin interactions and by helping attach
plastic identification tags to dolphin dorsal fins.

Wells went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in zoology and a Ph.D. in biology, and he
was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution. While completing
his master’s degree and Ph.D., he spent time
studying dolphins and whales near Hawaii, along
with whales in the Arctic and off the coast of Alaska.

Though some of his studies took him far from
Florida, he never lost touch with the Sarasota Bay
dolphins and researchers. In 1982, he teamed up
with others to form the nonprofit Dolphin Biology
Research Institute to facilitate continuation of
the Sarasota Bay research. Two years later, they
reinitiated brief capture-release efforts to obtain
basic background information on the dolphins in
the bay and to check on their health—work that
continues to this day.

Wells joined the Chicago Zoological Society in
1989, where he is a senior conservation scientist in
addition to directing the Sarasota Dolphin Research
Program. Throughout his life, he has served as the
principal or coprincipal investigator for more than
185 marine mammal research projects and also
works as an adjunct professor at the University of
California, Santa Cruz; the University of Florida;
the University of North Carolina, Wilmington; and
Duke University.

Wells hopes to inspire the next generation of
conservationists to start young, as he did. He is
featured in Marine Science for Kids, a new children’s
book cowritten by a former Brookfield Zoo
dolphin animal care specialist. A chapter focuses
on Wells’ story and uses it to help readers make
the connection between wildlife research and
conservation action. You can find information about
Marine Science for Kids at ZoologyForKids.org. Or
on your next visit to Brookfield Zoo, you can pick
up a copy in Wildlife Trading Post, Seven Seas
Shop, or Coast Gifts.

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