Dolphin Tale Worksheet

How is the video Dolphin Tale related to

Biology
Ecology
Earth science
Marine Science
Zoology (in particular mammalogy chp.32)
Veterinary medicine

Sawyer seems very depressed at the beginning of the movie, list 3 reasons why this can be inferred. (p.4) inference-a logical interpretation based upon knowledge or experience.
Does the environment of a person or animal affect their behavior? Give 2 examples.
Crystal and Panama (2 adult dolphins) which live in marine center will wave at people when they are waved at, what type of behavior is this? Circle one (innate or learned). p.873
Define each and give an example from the video:

a. Behavior p.871

b. innate behavior p.873

c. learned behavior p.873

d. classical conditioning p.874

e. operant conditioning p.875

6. What 2 things must all cells receive in order to stay alive. Diagram.

7. Why did the doctor have to cut Winter’stail or fluke off? Would she have died if the fluke was not

removed? Explain.

8. How is Hazel good for Sawyer?

9. How did the injured dolphin get its name?

10. How do dolphins communicate with one another? (p.881visual, sound, touch, or chemical).

*The sound generator is in the region of the nasal plugs. Sounds are transmitted and refracted

Forward through the fatty melon and exit the head. Some sounds are reflected off air-filled nasal

sacs, diverticulum, and facial bones.

10. How does Sawyer get Winter to drink her bottle milk?

11. When Winter nursed from her mother or drank her milk bottle she used a sucking reflex. What type

of behavior is this? Circle one (innate or learned).

12. Want type of organism is Rufus? How about Fred?______, ______

13. How do dolphins find food? Panama has lost hers.______

*Dolphins produce directional clicks in trains. The click trains pass through the melon (the rounded region of a dolphin's forehead), which consists of lipids (fats). The melon acts as an acoustical lens to focus these sound waves into a beam, which is projected forward into water in front of the animal.These sound waves bounce off objects in the water and return to the dolphin in the form of an echo. The major areas of sound reception are the fat-filled cavities of the lower jaw bones. Sounds are received and conducted through the lower jaw to the middle ear, inner ear, and then to hearing centers in the brain via the auditory nerve.The brain receives the sound waves in the form of nerve impulses, which relay the messages of sound and enable the dolphin to interpret the sound's meaning. By this complex system of echolocation dolphins can determine size, shape, speed, distance, direction, and even some of the internal structure of objects in the water.

14. Why is sound in the dark, sometimes murky waters of the sea important to animals like dolphins?

15. Sawyer has a connection with animals that allows him to communicate with them. Explain.

16. Why should fishermen and others not leave their old crab pots, hooks, trash, etc. in the ocean?

17. How does trash in ocean affect sea life? Give 4 examples.

18. If you had the opportunity would like to touch or swim with dolphins.

19. Should Marine Mammals be kept in captivity? Are there some instances when captivity is a good

solution and other instances when it is not? Explain. P.853

20. Role-Playing : Suppose you are a wildlife biologist managing a declining population of wild

bottlenose dolphins. (You need to learn about the lifestyle of this dolphin before you can

recommend any solutions. You also want to increase public awareness to help protect the

population. Write a proposal on how you will do all this). Read page 853

21. Why are the board members of Clearwater Marine Hospital considering selling?

22. Why is it incorrect to say a dolphin is a fish? p.771

23. What are the characteristics of mammals? p.821

24. How do mammals maintain homeostasis? p. 822

25. How old is Winter? Hint: calves nurse up to 18 months, Sawyer was feeding Winter a milk mixture.

26. The milk a mother provides is 33% fat, 6.8% protein, 58.3% water, and a trace of lactose. This is a

rich formula that helps the calf develop an insulative layer of ______.

27. Female dolphins are sexually mature at 5 to 12 years of age, Males at 10 to 12 years of age. Is

Winter a male or female?

28. A female can bear a calf every 2 years. A calf will be approximately 42 to 52 inches long and weigh

around 44 pounds. The calf will nurse under water, close to the surface. Calves suckle from nipples

concealed in abdominal mammary slits about four times every hour both night and day. Nursing

last 5 to 10 seconds. Think back to the movie how many times did you see Sawyer and Hazel

feeding Winter? Was it accurate?

29. Are calves born head first or fluke first? How is the umbilical cord cut? Why do the newborn

calves appear to have stripes alone their sides (they go away with time)?

30. During the movie Sawyer was called “Winter’s mother now”. Why? Look up imprinting. P. 876

31. Draw a food chain for a mature bottlenose dolphin. P. 69 and p. 823

32. Dolphins are considered predators. Explain where they would be on a food chain (beginning or

end)?

33. Are dolphins consumers or producers? Heterotrophs or autotrophs? Carnivores, herbivores, or

Omnivores? Circle or underline your choices.

34. Circle the physical adaptations of a dolphin that enables it to swim (below). Box the physical

adaptationthat enables the dolphin to breath.

35. What type of ecosystem do dolphins live in? pp.106, 109 ______

36. When you see a dolphin breaching (jumping out of the water and landing on their sides) are they

In the photic or aphotic zone? (look on your prefix/suffix sheet to define photo- and a- )

37. What factor is absent in the aphotic zone? P.109

38. As mammals evolved, the form and function of their jaws and teeth became ______

to eat foods other than insects. The joint between the skull and lower jaw became______

than that of reptiles. This joint allowed mammals to ______larger, more powerful

jaw ______and different ways of chewing. p.822

39. Bottlenose dolphins do not chew however. They swallow their food whole, head first, they break

large fish by shaking them. So what is their lower jawbone used for? Describe their teeth.

40. Compare the body movement for swimming in a fish and a dolphin.

41. How did Winter overcome the obstacle of swimming with no fluke? How did this become a

health concern?

42. A dolphin’s spinal cord is like a human’s spinal cordin that it controls ______,

______, ______, and ______.

43.State Problem #1(concerning Q. 41) ______

______.

44. Usually we observe sometime that gets our mind working so we can creatively solve problems

What did Sawyer see at the VA hospital that got his mind thinking about how to help Winter?

45. Give the hypothesis the prosthetist can up with? ______

______

46. Together the marine biologist (Hazel’s dad) and the prosthetist man, plus Sawyer, Hazel, and

others had to learn all they could about the mechanics of a dolphins movement and fluke. Look

at the 2 pictures above in Q. 41, describe the mechanicals of the keel muscles (picture Q. 34) in order

to move the fluke.

47. What is the name of the step in the scientific method described in #46, in bold print?

48. Design the design of the first prosthetic fluke. (Experiment)

49. Part of the experiment was the actual testing of the prosthetic fluke on Winter. Describe the

outcome or observation made. (dependent variable)

50. Can you identify the control, independent variable of experiment #1?

51. Did the team (prosthetist, marine biologist, Sawyer, and Hazel) give up on Winter and solving her

Problem?

52. Do we change the problem or the hypothesis and try again?______