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What
is the Tangalooma Dolphin Care Program?
The
dolphins that visit Tangalooma are totally wild.
They choose to come into the shallows
to interact with us and take a few fish from our hands.
The Tangalooma Dolphin Care Program
has been developed to ensure that people feeding the dolphins
do not harm them in any way.
Procedures
which the Program has adopted are designed to minimise disturbance
to the dolphins' natural behaviour patterns.
Keeping the dolphins wild
We
want to discourage the dolphins from depending on us, or
becoming too tame. Therefore, the amount of fish given to
the dolphins varies between 10 and 20% of their daily food
requirement.
Because
we only feed them this limited amount the dolphins still
need to hunt for themselves. In addition, we limit our contact
with them so that they remain wild and wary of humans. This
reduces the possibility of somebody harming them.
Tips for getting the most out
of your encounter with the dolphins
Remember
that the Tangalooma dolphins are wild. What you will see
is natural, wild behaviour, not a 'dolphin show'.
Watching from the jetty is highly
recommended. This elevated viewpoint gives you a much better
position to watch the dolphin's behaviour.
Take the opportunity to listen to
the presentations during the feeding and learn about dolphins.
Feeding the dolphins
Please
note: The Dolphin Feeding Program operates to strict guidelines,
therefore restrictions on feeding apply. The number of guests
able to feed the dolphins will depend on weather and tidal
conditions and dolphin attendance. We
do not want too many people to feed the dolphins.Therefore,
we request that only those people who really want to, go
in to feed. Those who do feed will only have a few seconds
in the water, and unfortunately, may not see as much as
those who choose to stay on the jetty to watch. |
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How it all started The group of dolphins we are
privileged to have visit us at Tangalooma are inshore bottlenose
dolphins which have a home range in the area of Tangalooma.
For many years these dolphins have
come to the waters underneath the resort jetty to feed on
the bait fish which are attracted by the jetty lights.
In April 1992, one of these dolphins,
which we named "Beauty", began to eat fish that
were thrown to her from the jetty. We suspect she was very
hungry because she had a young calf (baby dolphin) still
suckling milk from her. We call this calf "Tinkerbell".
In October 1994, "Beauty"
gave birth to her third calf which we named "Shadow".
Since "Beauty" began to
take fish from us, other dolphins in her pod (group) have
joined the nightly feeding. We now have between eight and
ten dolphins attending the feeding sessions.
If you spend a little time
looking carefully at each of the dolphins you will notice
that they are all a little different from one another. You
may learn to recognise each of them by their size, colour
(some lighter, some darker) and in particular the shape
of their dorsal fin. So spend some time up on the jetty
and see if you can recognise which dolphin is which.
Dolphin Research
Tangalooma
Resort assists researchers from the University of Queensland
and other Universities worldwide to study the dolphins in
Moreton Bay, including the dolphins that visit Tangalooma.
These studies are helping us to increase
our understanding of wild dolphin behaviour and their biology.
You may see these researchers observing
the dolphins during the feeding sessions, you could also
be asked to help with this research by completing questionnaires.
Your
interest in this research is welcome and any assistance
you can give is much appreciated.
Further Information
- Drop
in
to the Dolphin Education Center
- E-mail
us
at dolphins@tangalooma.com
- Write
to us at PO Box 1102,
Eagle Farm Q 4009,
Australia
- Fax
us on +61 7 3408
2232
- Dolphin
Care Manager: Trevor Hassard
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