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Exhale

October 26, 2013

A dolphin provides Julie Rocho-Levine a voluntary breath sample using a custom-made device that measures oxygen and CO₂ levels and respiratory rate. WHOI biologist Michael Moore and MIT-WHOI graduate student Julie van der Hoop, comparative physiologist Andreas Fahlman of Texas A&M Univ., and Micah Brodsky of VMD Consulting are working with the trained dolphins at Dolphin Quest Oahu to test the effects of drag created by a data-logging device commonly used to track wild dolphin behavior. The dolphins in the study are trained to follow a remote controlled boat while wearing the non-invasive data logger. The breath samples the dolphins provide help quantify their energy exertion while wearing the data logger and without it. (Photo by Michael Moore, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives)