By Hiroko Tabuchi, New York Times

Scientists have found plastic pollution almost everywhere they have looked. In clouds. On Mount Everest. In Arctic snow.
Now, for the first time, tiny plastic particles have been detected in the breath of dolphins.
The findings, published on Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, point to the ubiquitousness of plastic waste in the environment. Each year, nearly 2 million tons of plastic end up in world’s oceans…

By The Guardian

Microplastics have been found in dolphin breath for the first time, according to a study that suggests the marine mammals are inhaling the potentially harmful contaminants when they come up for air. The US research team, whose preliminary findings are published in the journal, Plos One, are concerned about the potential impact of inhaled plastics on the animals’ lungs…

By Natalie Bomke

Local students are exploring what it takes to protect animals in their natural habitat thanks to Brookfield Zoo Chicago. Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s Sarasota Dolphin Research program is the longest running study of a wild dolphin population in the world. Student Jordan Torrez got to experience it first hand…

By Kimberly Kuizon

SARASOTA, Fla. – For five days straight, Dr. Randall Wells and his team with the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, Brookfield Zoo Chicago scooped not one or two, but dozens of mylar balloons from the water… They picked up 76, to be exact. Balloons used to celebrate occasions like Mother’s Day and birthdays. Once they end up in waterways like Sarasota Bay or the Gulf of Mexico, they become a danger to wildlife… A new Florida law that took effect July 1 bans the intentional release of balloons. Dr. Wells said it’s a step in the right direction toward protecting sea life for future generations…

By Kimberly Kuizon

SARASOTA, Fla. – Sarasota Bay may be busy this time of year for boaters in the area, but it’s also true for the area’s resident dolphins. “In May, June and July we see most of the calves being born,” said Dr. Randall Wells, the director of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, Brookfield Zoo Chicago…

By Barbara S. Moffet

SARASOTA, Fla. — The research vessel Martha Jane glided slowly across the teal waters of Sarasota Bay on Florida’s Gulf Coast under a cloudless sky tailor-made for tourists on a recent day. “There’s 2094!” one of the scientists on the boat called out. “She’s still with us!”

By Michael Paluska

SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — The Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program is the longest-running study of bottlenose dolphins in the world. Launching in 1970, the research is invaluable in protecting this unique creature.

ABC Action News received federal approval to go on the water with the team.

By Virginia Morell | Science

Parents around the world coo at their babies in swooping, high-pitched tones called “motherese,” or baby talk. This exaggerated way of speaking—which we also use with our pets—is thought to help infants bond with their caregivers and learn the boundaries between syllables and words.

Dolphins, it turns out, may do the same.

by Christina Larson

You know instantly when someone is speaking to an infant or small child. It turns out that dolphin mothers also use a kind of high-pitched baby talk.

Interview By Art Levy

Randy Wells — Biologist, zoologist, director of the Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program

Sarasota Herald Tribune

Randall Wells, director of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, has received the Kenneth S. Norris Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Marine Mammalogy.

By Andrea Chu, WTSP 10 Tampa Bay

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A troubled baby dolphin is swimming safely off of Clearwater Beach, thanks to a team of rescuers from several Tampa Bay area organizations.

Gulf Coast Life

This has turned out to be a record year for the number of dolphin calves born in and around Sarasota Bay. Researchers with the Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP) have documented 22 dolphin births so far this year, exceeding the record of 21 set in 2017.

By Kim Kuizon, Fox 13

SARASOTA, Fla. – A dolphin baby boom is taking place in Sarasota waters.

“This is one of the best years that we’ve seen so far, in terms of calf production,” shared Dr. Randall Wells.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program recently earned a Disney Conservation Hero Award, recognizing local citizens for their commitment to save wildlife, protect habitats, and inspire conservation efforts.

By Steve Johnson, Chicago Tribune

Beginning his work in marine biology, Randy Wells thought he was a shark guy. But the teenager whose family had just moved from Peoria to Florida’s Gulf Coast volunteered to help a local researcher study the migration patterns of the bottlenose dolphins off of Sarasota.

By Tim Burquest and Libby Hendren, WTSP 10 Tampa Bay

SARASOTA, Fla. — Here in the Tampa Bay Area, dolphins are an essential part of our ecosystem.
We see them when we’re out on the boat or strolling near a seawall. This month, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program is celebrating 50 years of researching marine mammals and helping people understand how our world impacts theirs — from oil spills to algae.

Brookfield Zoo’s Gateways magazine

CZS’ World-Renowned Sarasota Dolphin Research Program celebrates 50 years of pioneering research and conservation breakthroughs…

With host Mike Kiniry

WGCU

It’s been 50 years since the first dolphins were tagged by researchers in Sarasota Bay. It was a new approach to gaining understanding of dolphin behavior. Over the past five decades research on that local dolphin population has continued …

By Billy Cox

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

SARASOTA — If the deep and abiding mysteries of “dolphin lan-guage” are embedded in codes that can be cracked, odds are high that our neighbors in Sarasota Bay will show the way.

By Wendi Lane

WFTS Tampa Bay

SARASOTA, Fla. — Right now, researchers are warning people heading out on the water this Labor Day weekend to watch out for dolphins.