Annual Reports

Nicks ‘n’ Notches is the annual report of the Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program. Each issue contains an annual summary of the research, conservation, education and outreach activities conducted by the Program, as well as recognition of those who have made financial or in-kind donations of support.

The Program welcomes financial donations, as well as donations of equipment, such as boats, computers, cameras and vehicles. To find out how you can support the Program, please contact Cindy Zeigler, CZS Chief Advancement Officer, at 708.688.8263.

Individuals Make a Difference

My introduction to our January 2022 issue of Nicks’n’Notches focused on how we have come to appreciate the dolphins of Sarasota Bay as the individuals they are, through their long lifespans, family connections across generations, residency to core areas (neighborhoods) within the greater community range, individual behaviors, social association patterns, and their individual responses to the many dramas that may occur over the course of each individual’s life.

Through our observations and analyses, we have also demonstrated the population-level conservation benefits that can come from each individual that we are able to save. We have been making a concerted effort to help the public relate more readily to the dolphins by sharing our long-term findings, facilitating the development of an understanding of the animals as individuals, with the hope that greater appreciation will lead to greater motivation to protect them and their ecosystem. Individuals indeed make a difference – in the forms of both dolphins and humans.