Wild bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ) behavior is impacted by a number of factors including season, time of day, and age.  However, less is known about how these factors may influence animals under professional care in zoos, aquariums and marine parks. Management practices such as scheduled feeding times, human interactions, lack of predators and show performances may also impact the activity budgets of dolphins.  The current study examined the rest, swim and play behavior of seven dolphins (three adults, four calves) at one facility. Data were collected over the entire 24-hour day for a period of one year. Observed behaviors were recorded in mutually exclusive categories including rest, low intensity swim, high intensity swim, low intensity play, high intensity play and social play. Data were analyzed to determine how often dolphins engaged in particular behaviors and if activity budgets varied due to season, time of day and age.  These dolphins spent the majority of their time in low intensity swim and low intensity play.  The activity budget varied between observational periods.  First, seasonal differences were found in low intensity swim, low intensity play, social play and high intensity play behaviors.  In the comparison for time of day, differences were found in rest, low intensity swim, low intensity play and social play.  Finally, no significant differences were found in age comparisons. Information gained from this study can help to better understand how different factors influence the behavior of bottlenose dolphins under professional care within zoos, aquariums and marine parks.

The scientific community has mourned the loss of Dr. Stan Kuczaj, Professor at The University of Southern Mississippi and Director of the Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition Laboratory, for the past year. In this time of grieving and reminiscing, his scientific legacy has continued to live on through students, collaborators and trusted colleagues.  Stan’s passing has acted in part as a motivator to continue to publish works that he invested time and energy in as a tribute, seeing his visions through to fruition. In addition to publishing droves of literature, his colleagues within the development and comparative fields have bound together for the common goal of advancing the science through new collaborations, merged resources, and tackling innovative topics in comparative studies. This second commemorative special issue is a testament to the vast scope of Stan’s impact on the scientific community, as well as his legacy that each of his students and colleagues continues to cultivate. Ten additional papers round out our initial tribute to Dr. Stan Kuczaj in honor of his lifetime achievements.

McCowan and Reiss first reported the “thunk” sound of the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ) during separations and discipline behavior of mother-calf dyads. This sound has been previously described as a wide-band, low frequency contact call, however the harmonic structure of this sound is more variable than previously described. Based on preliminary observations of the graded structure of thunks within our data set, we investigated the directionality of thunks with energies at higher frequencies. We recorded a bottlenose dolphin mother with her calf during the first 30-days of life, and analyzed thunk production during separation and discipline contexts. Two classifications of the thunk sound were compared to determine calf response and whether location cues were embedded in the higher harmonics of one of the thunk types. The mother oriented towards the calf significantly more during production of both thunk types during separation and discipline contexts. This sound may have potential directional information within the harmonic structure; however, we could not draw that conclusion based on our findings. Therefore, we present data here that indicates a graded structure to the harmonics of thunk sounds.