Let me tell you about that other study now. Studying Dead Dolphins I first studied the bottlenose dolphins in the IRL in 1974 in cooperation with Sea World of Florida. These are called stranded or beached animals.
Dolphins die from many kinds of natural diseases.
I picked up dead dolphins in south Florida from my base at the University of Miami, and Sea World picked up dead IRL dolphins from its base in Orlando. Since dolphins were protected by federal law, we all worked under permits issued to us by the U.S. government. When we were done we cleaned the skull and collected the teeth. Dolphins are born with one set of teeth that continue to grow a little bit each year. We can tell how old a dolphin is by cutting a thin section from the root of the tooth and looking at it under a microscope.