Future considerations for feeding bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) under human care

Citation

Ardente A and Shinder D. 2019. Future considerations for feeding bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) under human care. In Brooks M, Freel T, Koutsos E Eds. Proceedings of the Thirteenth Conference on Zoo and Wildlife Nutrition, Zoo and Wildlife Nutrition Foundation and AZA Nutrition Advisory Group, Saint Louis, MO.

Abstract

Free-ranging bottlenose dolphins consume a wide variety of free-living, temperate-water fish, and invertebrate species. Dolphins managed under human care, however, are largely fed two species of cold-water fish: capelin and herring. Some facilities may feed other species but generally as a much smaller component of the total diet. Most species fed are commercially caught in cold-water at a particular time of year during a specific life cycle phase and are frozen and thawed prior to feeding. These differences between the free-ranging and managed dolphin diets directly impact the diets’ nutrient profile.

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