Dr. Grey Stafford
Recently, the marine mammal team at Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas announced they had tracked and located a male spotted dolphin the facility had rescued, rehabilitated and returned to the ocean over 5 years ago under the auspices of the company's Blue Project Foundation. The successful return of this animal was due in large part to a series of fortunate factors including the longitudinal study of these resident dolphins. In fact, scientists knew of this animal, its birth year, dam, and migration habits long before it was found stranded and near death at age 9. Thanks to this field evidence and the generous contributions from scientists in the Bahamas and the US including Dr Randy Wells at Mote Marine Lab, the team at the Dolphin Communication Project, the Wild Dolphin Project and others, the animal not only was returned to health and eventually the ocean, but he has since thrived having rejoined his social group. Vice President of Marine Mammal Operations for Atlantis, Ted Turner describes this historic journey for this extraordinary animal nicknamed "M & M."