How much energy do mammals-dolphins use to swim?

But burning rubber also consumes a lot of energy, and over time, if an animal consumes more calories during exercise than it can absorb, that energy is depleted that is vital to animal growth, health, and reproduction 's reserves

Being able to estimate the energy expenditure (COL) of these movements, and determine where metabolic tipping points may lie, is critical to answering fundamental questions about dolphin physiology and ecology, as well as understanding the impact of human disturbance on them

A new study led by Duke University provides a more reliable way to estimate energy expenditure in dolphins by using overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA), an integrated measure of all body movements in dolphins during swimming

"Researchers have used movement markers to measure ODBA in other species, but this is the first published study to calibrate ODBA in multiple dolphins using energy expenditure," said Austin Allen, a postdoctoral fellow in marine biology at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment

As a measure of the cost of wildlife exercise, Allen and his colleagues conducted swimming trials with six trained bottlenose dolphins at the Dolphin Discovery Zoo on Oahu, Hawaii in May 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Using a non-invasive device called a barometer, they measured each dolphin's oxygen consumption while resting and immediately after swimming 80 meters underwater through a lagoon

By analyzing the collected data, a pattern began to emerge

"There are some individual differences, but overall, the results show a significant correlation between oxygen consumption and body acceleration, suggesting that ODBA can be a reliable proxy for COL," Allen said

"Working with dolphins in zoos or aquariums allows us to use the data we collect using these tags in the wild to assess the cost of moving wild populations," he said

Austin S.