Such an endeavor requires a large and dedicated group of animal care specialists and is extremely demanding. Before such a serious decision is made, the veterinarians carefully weigh all the information regarding the case. Your students can examine data from real dolphin calves to see how intervention decisions are made. Using an example from the data sheets from the Nursing Newborns lesson, Calf A on Day 3 nursed 534 total seconds during the 10-hour period of observation. Students can also calculate the estimated volume of milk needed per day if the milk comes from the mother or is supplied by a supplemental milk formula.
Procedure Discuss the importance of food calories for life processes.
Dolphin calves, like all animals, have a required number of calories that they must receive each day in order to survive and grow. Discuss the challenges of monitoring a newborn calf and the difficulties of medical intervention, in the event that the calf does not do well. Review the data sheets and graphs. They should be able to explain why these kinds of calculations are important to the health management of newborn dolphins. By dividing the total calories consumed by 14 days, they can determine the average number of calories per day that they ate.