Fisherman Milton Santini opened Santini's Porpoise School in 1958, which he operated until 1972. Santini blasted lagoons into the seashore with dynamite to create deeper pens for the dolphins. One of Santini's dolphins, Mitzi, starred in the film Flipper. The property was sold and renamed as Flipper's Sea School in 1972 and operated under this name until 1977. At this point, it was purchased by Jean Paul Fortom-Gouin. Fortom-Gouin closed the property to the public, running it as the Institute for Delphinid Research until 1983. The Dolphin Research Center was founded in 1984 by Armando and Jayne Rodriguez. Mandy had earlier been a dolphin trainer at Miami Seaquarium and decided to interact with dolphins in a manner less "circus-y".
Animals
As of 2018, DRC listed 26 dolphins as currently residing at its facilities. Twenty-five of the dolphins are bottlenose dolphins, while the other dolphin is an Atlantic spotted dolphin. Twenty-two of the dolphins were born in captivity, while one was captured from the wild. Two of the bottlenose dolphins and the Atlantic spotted dolphin were rescued from the wild. It is also home to four sea lions and several exotic birds.
Guest experience
Visitors to the DRC can pay to experience a variety of programs. In addition to the general admission price, guests can pay more to interact with dolphins in the water. DRC also has an "Ultimate Trainer for the Day" program where guests can shadow trainers and a "Researcher Experience" where they can shadow the DRC research team. Other guest experiences can include painting with a dolphin or providing enrichment.
Research
DRC staff members conduct and publish research on its captive dolphins. In a 2010 study and a follow-up 2013 study , researchers tested the ability of a blindfolded dolphin to imitate the behavior of another dolphin or human. The blindfolded dolphin was able to replicate the behaviors of fellow dolphins by presumably recognizing the sound; when copying behaviors of a human in the water, it switched to using echolocation to ascertain the behavior being modeled. In a 2018 publication DRC staff tested the ability of bottlenose dolphins to coordinate their behavior to receive a reward. In a trial, pairs of dolphins were instructed to swim across their lagoons and press an underwater button, with each dolphin assigned a button. In some trials, both dolphins were given the command at the same time; in other trials, one dolphin would receive the command up to 20 seconds before the other. Trials were considered successful if the dolphins pressed the buttons at the same time. The dolphins learned to coordinate their actions, with the first dolphin to receive the command eventually waiting for the second dolphin to receive its command before acting. This demonstrated that dolphins are capable of coordinated action in pursuit of a common goal.
Education
The Center operated the College of Marine Mammal Professions. Formerly, students could earn an associate degree of science in Marine Mammal Behavior, Care and Training after completing a 36-week program. As of 2018, the associate degree program has been discontinued, and students can instead earn an "Occupational Associate's Degree" in Marine Mammal Behavior, Care, and Training through a similar 36-week program. The program is under their Training Institute.
Issues and controversy
In 2004, the Sun-Sentinel alleged that the Dolphin Research Center failed to report the birth and death of a dolphin calf to the National Marine Fisheries Servicein 2001, nor did it report the birth of a calf in 2002. The National Marine Fisheries Service is required to keep a record of captive marine mammal births, deaths, and transfers in the United States. After Hurricane Andrew struck the Florida Keys in 1992, the DRC dolphin "Annessa" escaped or was washed out of her sea pen. Opponents of dolphin captivity including Ric O'Barry allege that Annessa is an example of a captive-born dolphin successfully transitioning from captivity to wild life, which could be an argument for releasing such dolphins back into the wild. However, the DRC disputes that Annessa was able to transition to life back in the wild. They state that there was one credible sighting of her immediately after the storm, verified via photograph. Of the photograph, Mandy Rodriguez stated, "it was clear that Annessa had already lost a considerable amount of weight and was not sustaining herself in the wild. Unfortunately, Annessa was never seen again and there is no evidence to suggest that she survived long term."
