Dear all, I am an Italian marine biology researcher. I am interested in studying the Indian humpback dolphin (Sousa plumbea) population inhabiting the waters off Zanzibar Arcipelago, Tanzania. I think it would be necessary to monitor these cetaceans and their inshore distribution that renders them particularly susceptible to the effects of human activities in the coastal zones. On this purpose, I would like to run a project studying their behavioural ecology and reactions towards vessel activity, making a comparison between Unguja and Pemba Island. In fact, on Unguja Island theres a lot of disturbance caused by human activities, while in Pemba these anthropogenic factors seem to be really rare. Thus, I would like if anyone has some articles about the situation of humpback dolphins in this area, that can be really useful for my project. These are the articles that I have already found: - Amir, Jiddawi and Berggren (2005) The occurrence and distribution of dolphins in Zanzibar, Tanzania, with Comments on the Differences between two species of Tursiops. Western Indian Ocean J.Mar.Sci.Vol.4, No 1, pp. 85-93. - Amir,O., Berggren,P.,Ndaro,G.M. and Narriman,J. (2005) Feeding ecology of the Indo-Pacific bottlnose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) incidentally caught in the gillnet fisheries off Zanzibar, Tanzania. - Barros, Nelio B. (1991) Prey of humpback dolphins (Sousa plumbea) stranded in eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Aquatic Mammals, 17.3:134-136. - Borobia,M. (1997) Small cetaceans of eastern, western and centrals African regions: a summary report. Paper presented at the scientific Committee meeting of the International Whaling commission (IWC)30 September-11October in Bournemouth, UK, Document IWC/SC/49/SM48 - Fachinetti,C. (2001) Contributo alla studio della cetofauna nellArcipelago di Zanzibar, Tanzania. Bachelor thesis, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Corso di laurea di Scienze Naturali. - Karcmarski,L., Thorthon,M. and Cockcroft,V.G. (1997) Description of selected behaviours of humpback dolphins Sousa chinensis. Aquatic Mammals,23.3,127-133. - Karcmarski,L. (2000) Conservation and management of humpback dolphins: the South African perspective. Oryx.Vol 34(3), 207-216. - Karcmarski,L., Cockcroft,V.G. and McLachlan,A. (2000) Habitat use and preferences of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins Sousa chinensis in Algoa, Bay, South Africa. Marine Mammal Science, 16(1):65-79. - Karczmarski,L. and Cockcroft,V.G. (1998) Matrix photo-identification technique applied in studies of free-ranging bottlenose and humpback dolphins. Aquatic Mammals, 24.3,143-147. - Karcmarski,L., Cockcroft,V.G. and McLachlan,A. (1999) Group size and seasonal patterns of occurrence of humpback dolphins Sousa chinensis in Algoa Bay, South Africa. S.Afr.J.Mar.Sci. 21:89-97. - Peddemors,V.M. and Thompson,G. (1994) Beaching behaviour during shallow water feeding by humpback dolphins Sousa plumbea. Aquatic Mammals, 20.2, 65-67. - Karcmarski,L., Thorthon,M. and Cockcroft,V.G. (2000) Daylight occurrence of humpback dolphins Sousa chinensis in Algoa Bay, South Africa. - Stensland,E. (2004) Behavioural ecology of Indo-Pacific bottlenose and humpback dolphins. PhD thesis. - Stensland, Carlen, Särnblad, Bighert and Berggren (2006) Population size, distribution, and behaviour of Indo-Pacific bottlenose (Tursiops aduncus) and humpback (Sousa chinensis) dolphins off the south coast of Zanzibar. Marine Mammal Science,22(3):667-682. - Stensland, Berggren, Johnstone and Jiddawi (1998) Marine Mammals in Tanzania: Urgent need for status management. Ambio vol.xxvii. No 8:771-774. - Tocchetti,M., Bortolotto,A., and Jiddawi,N. (2001) The Zanzibar Cetacean Project. 29Th EAAM Annual Symposium, Genoa, Italy, 9-12 March 2001. - Van Parijs, S. and Corkeron,P. (2001) Boat traffic affects the acoustic behaviour of Pacific humpback dolphins, Sousa chinensis. Thank you in advance, Chiara Bertulli c/o Hvalsafari AS P.O. Box 58 8483 Andenes, Norway ciarabertulli@yahoo.it mobile :+39/340/6933102 home phone:+39/02/70000549 home address: viale Mugello 2 20137 Milano, Italy --------------------------------------------------------------- Mettiti al centro del mondo! Crea il tuo blog e condividi con i tuoi amici idee, immagini e video, da web e da cellulare! http://beta.dada.net/ ---------------------------------------------------------------