LTREB: Long-term Study of Bottlenose Dolphin Life History and Social Ecology

LTREB：对宽吻海豚生活史和社会生态学的长期研究。珍妮特·曼和理查德·康诺通过大众媒体和水族馆的节目为公众所知。鲨鱼湾海豚项目是世界上运行时间第二长的野生海豚项目，展示了一幅复杂的海豚生活图景，包括漫长的哺乳期(3-6年)、延迟繁殖(12年以上)、觅食和其他可能从母亲传给后代的“传统”，以及等级森严的多层次成年雄性联盟。只有类人猿表现出了类似的行为、社交和认知复杂性。虽然研究地点在澳大利亚的鲨鱼湾，但长期项目数据保存在乔治城大学；每年有十几名国际调查人员为该项目做出贡献。有了LTREB，数据库管理员将创建、协调、更新和保存项目数据库，以便研究人员可以访问它。长期数据目前包含了过去20年中超过10,000次海豚群的目击事件，涉及900多只海豚。其中，超过300个人被详细跟踪了数千个小时。鲨鱼湾海豚计划的核心特征--对个体生活史、行为、遗传学和生态学的详细了解--不仅是对海豚为什么有大脑袋、长幼年期和复杂社会制度的重要理论见解的基础，也吸引了公众对野生动物教育和保护的兴趣和承诺(www.monkeymidorphins.org)。

LTREB: Long-term study of bottlenose dolphin life history and social ecology.Janet Mann and Richard ConnorBottlenose dolphins are best known to the public through popular media and shows in aquaria. The Shark Bay Dolphin Project, the second longest running wild dolphin project worldwide presents a complex picture of dolphin life, including a long nursing period (3-6 years), delayed reproduction (12+ years), foraging and possibly other "traditions" that are passed down from mother to offspring, and hierarchical multi-level adult male alliances. Only the great apes have shown comparable behavioral, social, and cognitive complexity. Although the research site is in Shark Bay, Australia, the long-term project data are maintained at Georgetown University; over a dozen international investigators contribute to the project annually. With the LTREB, a database manager will create, coordinate, update, and preserve the project database so that it can be accessed by researchers. The long-term data currently contain over 10,000 sightings of dolphin groups over the last 20 years involving over 900 dolphins. Of those, over 300 have been individually tracked in detail for thousands of additional hours. The core feature of the Shark Bay Dolphin Project- detailed knowledge of individual life history, behavior, genetics, and ecology- not only serves as the basis for important theoretical insights on why dolphins have large brains, a long juvenile period and complex social system, but also attracts public interest and commitment to wildlife education and conservation (www.monkeymiadolphins.org).