The International Laboratory for Dolphin Behaviour Research (ILDBR) in Eilat, Israel would like to extend an invitation to dolphin researchers around the world for collaboration in dolphin behavior research in our unique facility.
The ILDBR is located in the "Dolphin-Reef" tourist facility, in a tower about 8 m above a 14,000 m2 continuous semi-natural marine enclosure. The facility is located south of the city of Eilat, Israel, at the northern part of the Gulf of Aqaba, the Red Sea (34°56'13"E/29°31'37"N). The dolphins live in an enclosure which consists of a sandy bottom marine habitat with scattered natural patches of sea grass beds and coral reef knolls, and enriched with several artificial reef constructions. The enclosure is surrounded by plastic circumference net, which allows free in- and outflow of sea water and marine organisms such as fish, cephalopods, jellyfish and occasional sea turtles. The net is occasionally open to the sea, allowing the dolphins almost unrestricted access to the open sea. The dolphin pod currently consists of six Black Sea bottlenose dolphins *(Tursiops truncatus ponticus*) – 2 males (ages 9 and 10) and 4 females (ages 20, 15, 12 and ~40). Five of the dolphins were born in the facility and the oldest dolphin is from the original pod that was brought from the Black Sea in 1990. The dolphins do not undergo any reinforcement using food and their interaction with the trainers is completely voluntary, unlike other dolphin captivity programs. This provides unique opportunities for dolphin research in a semi-natural environment, which are hard to obtain in wild populations. For more information about the facility and previous research, please see Perelberg et al. 2010: “Studying Dolphin Behavior in a Semi-Natural Marine Enclosure: Couldn't we do it all in the Wild?” *International Journal of Comparative Psychology*, 2010, 23, 625-643. Please feel free to contact me for any further information. Dr. Gil Koplovitz International Laboratory for Dolphin Behaviour Research Ben Gurion University Eilat, Israel gil...@gmail.com
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