Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Halala, Ntsika!
  • What’s on – 26 January – 2 February
  • 2023 is off like a rocket at Holy Cross
  • An all-too-restrained explication of our immanent apocalypse
  • 135 pairs of shoes for Khutliso Daniels learners
  • Makhanda’s educational stars are aligning
  • Makana-Rini United (MARU) Club struggles on
  • Only three educators left at Riebeeck East Combined School
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»Uncategorized»Dolphins: barometers of the ocean
Uncategorized

Dolphins: barometers of the ocean

adminBy adminOctober 15, 2010No Comments2 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

A new study aims to show how dolphin health is an indicator of the state of our coastal waters.

A new study aims to show how dolphin health is an indicator of the state of our coastal waters.

Two species of dolphin are sometimes caught in anti-shark nets off KwaZulu-Natal: the bottlenose and humpback dolphins. This provides an opportunity to study the dolphins and determine as much as possible about them so that informed conservation decisions about the populations of these two dolphins in our coastal waters can be made.

Dr Stephanie Plön of the Grahamstown-based South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) and the Port Elizabeth Museum will be the first to study the health of these two species of dolphin in South Africa through a new research project in collaboration with The Wildlife Epidemiology section of the Research and Scientific Services Department at the National Zoological Gardens (NZG).

The team of researchers will provide training, supervision and logistical assistance for the project that will investigate the health status of the two species of dolphin: the bottlenose (Tursiops aduncus) and humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis).

This is the first study of its kind in South Africa, as no other health assessment of the dolphins has been made. Just as deaths in the Nile Crocodile population in the Oliphant’s River is an indicator of the degree of pollution, dolphins are apex predators in coastal waters and studying them will help us to evaluate the health of the marine ecosystem in the coastal waters of KZN.

Since water running into the sea may be full of pollutants, garbage, sewerage and infectious agents, the health of these dolphins is an indicator of how these contaminants may be affecting other ocean occupants and, indirectly, of any health risks for humans using the rivers running into the sea or the coastal waters for food or recreation.

Dr Morné de Wet, a veterinarian, will be doing his master’s study on the health status of the dolphins at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria. De Wet will be assisted and supervised by Dr Ursula Siebert from the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, in Germany who is an expert veterinary pathologist in marine mammal pathology.

Previous ArticleWillows Cricket Club elects new execs
Next Article Bring on the beautiful gardens
admin

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.