abstract

Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach, FL, is the only facility in North America and one of two facilities in the world that houses a collection of Rough-toothed dolphins (Steno bredanensis). Since these animals are not commonly displayed at oceanariums/aquariums, there is a wide caveat for research into the medical management and husbandry of these dolphins. All Rough-toothed dolphins in the collection are non-releasable stranded dolphins adding another aspect to each animal's medical care and needs. Likewise, challenges have occurred in regards to the basic husbandry for these animals which include but are not limited to nutrition, enrichment, and enclosure design.

A mainstay for veterinary diagnostics in marine mammal medicine is blood analysis, and several hematology and clinical chemistry values have been published for a variety of captive cetaceans^1-4. Currently, there is no complete set of "normal" blood parameters that have been published for Steno bredanensis. "Normal" parameters for bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were previously used for result comparisons to determine deviations that may indicate illness. Routine health assessments of these animals have offered a large database of information in which a baseline has been established.

acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the staff and trainers at Gulf World Marine Park for their excellent care of these animals. The authors would also like to that Stephanie Carle and John D. Boston for their assistance with the manuscript.

References

1.  Asper ED, Cornell LH, Duffield DA, Odell DK, Joseph BE, Stark BI, Perry CA. (1990). Hematology and Serum Chemistry Values in Bottlenose Dolphins. In S. Leatherwood, and Reeves, R.R. (Ed.), The Bottlenose Dolphin (pp. 479-485). San Diego, CA: Academic Press, Inc.

2.  Bossart GD, Reidarson TH, Dierauf LA, Duffield DA. (2001). Clinical Pathology. In L. A. Dierauf, and Gulland, F.M.D. (Ed.), CRC Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine (2nd Ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

3.  Cornell LH, Duffield DA, Antrim JE. (1981). Clinical application of hematologic values in captive cetaceans. Paper presented at the Annual Proceedings of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians.

4.  Cornell LH. (1983). Hematology and clinical chemistry values in the killer whales, Orcinus orca. J Wildl Dis, 19(3), 259-264.