The Metabolic Cost of Click Production in Bottlenose Dolphins

: The objective of this study was to measure oxygen consumption in two captive bottlenose dolphins to determine the metabolic cost of click production. The metabolic cost of click production was also compared to resting metabolic rates, the metabolic cost of whistles and other communicative sound, and the metabolic costs of other activities, such as performing surface active behaviors (SABs) and/or swimming. This work required over two years to complete. Work during year 1 (2012) included training dolphins to perform the necessary behaviors and measuring metabolic rates during click production and control trials. The focus of year 2 (ending in December 2013) was to increase the number of click production trials and begin analyses to quantify the metabolic cost of click production. Data analysis continued through May 2014 with subsequent post-trial calibration of the instruments and metabolic baseline.