Learn about our work
Our team of scientists lead research projects with marine animals internationally. In Mexico, we work to study marine megafauna across the Mexican Caribbean coast. Our work in Belize focuses on the distribution, behavioral ecology, and communication of marine mammals.
Adapting small drones to study dolphin behavior
Studying dolphin behavior in the wild is hard. We're helping advance the field of drone-based studies of marine mammals in the Caribbean Sea. We use commercial DJI drones to fly over dolphins and track their activity.
Drones let us track the behavior of all the dolphins in a group. We also use the tracks of the drone to examine the movement strategies of dolphins and how these spatial behaviors vary throughout their diverse habitat at Turneffe Atoll, Belize.
Our goal is to better understand how dolphins shift their habitat use based on different environmental characteristics and the dynamics of their groups.
Since 2015, we've been leading research using small aerial drones to detect and study the Antillean manatees. We designed a variety of studies to explore the efficacy of drones for monitoring wild manatees.
Drone-based photo-identification of wild manatees
Team: Sarah Landeo-Yauri, Nataly Castelblanco-Martinez, Eric Angel Ramos, Carlos Alberto Niño Torres, Linda Searle
Read our recent publication produced from this project in Endangered Species Research on using small drones for photo-identification of Antillean manatees
We conducted a study to assess the utility of small drones for photo-identification studies of wild Antillean manatees.
We conducted a study to assess the utility of small drones for photo-identification studies of wild Antillean manatees.
Read our recent publication produced from this project in Endangered Species Research on using small drones for photo-identification of Antillean manatees
We conducted a study to assess the utility of small drones for photo-identification studies of wild Antillean manatees.
Read our recent publication produced from this project in Endangered Species Research on using small drones for photo-identification of Antillean manatees
Read our recent publication produced from this project in Endangered Species Research on using small drones for photo-identification of Antillean manatees
Read our recent publication produced from this project in Endangered Species Research on using small drones for photo-identification of Antillean manatees
Manatees make a variety of squeaky and chirpy sounds. How the Antillean manatee use these sounds is still largely a mystery. We are conducting studies throughout North, Central, and South America to study the acoustic behavior of the West Indian Manatee.
Manatees make a variety of squeaky and chirpy sounds. How the Antillean manatee use these sounds is still largely a mystery. We are conducting studies throughout North, Central, and South America to study the acoustic behavior of the West Indian Manatee.
Manatees make a variety of squeaky and chirpy sounds. How the Antillean manatee use these sounds is still largely a mystery. We are conducting studies throughout North, Central, and South America to study the acoustic behavior of the West Indian Manatee.
Our acoustic recorders are silently documenting the sounds of manatees in deep holes and channels.
Manatees make a variety of squeaky and chirpy sounds. How the Antillean manatee use these sounds is still largely a mystery. We are conducting studies throughout North, Central, and South America to study the acoustic behavior of the West Indian Manatee.
Manatees make a variety of squeaky and chirpy sounds. How the Antillean manatee use these sounds is still largely a mystery. We are conducting studies throughout North, Central, and South America to study the acoustic behavior of the West Indian Manatee.
Read our recent publication on the ultrasonic calls of Antillean manatees in Belize
Manatees make a variety of squeaky and chirpy sounds. How the Antillean manatee use these sounds is still largely a mystery. We are conducting studies throughout North, Central, and South America to study the acoustic behavior of the West Indian Manatee.
Read our recent publication on the ultrasonic calls of Antillean manatees in Belize
Documenting the marine mammals of the Western Caribbean Sea
Since 2009, we have been building an understanding of the diversity of marine mammal species found in the Western Caribbean Sea. We aggregate opportunistic sighting data and published records to maintain a comprehensive database of marine mammals throughout Mexico, Belize, and Honduras.
Whales of Guerrero
FINS Scientist Eric Angel Ramos has been collaborating closely with the Whales of Guerrero since 2016 and a guest scientist to the project. The Whales of Guerrero is based out of la Barra de Potosi and conducts important baseline research with marine animals along the Pacific coast of Guerrero, Mexico.
Skin diseases of bottlenose dolphins
The social lives and feeding behavior of rough-toothed dolphins
The social lives and feeding behavior of rough-toothed dolphins
We documented the first cases of lobomycosis-like disease in dolphins in Belize in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific coast of Guerrero, Mexico. Read the publication in Disease of Aquatic Mammals
The social lives and feeding behavior of rough-toothed dolphins
The social lives and feeding behavior of rough-toothed dolphins
The social lives and feeding behavior of rough-toothed dolphins
We're investigating the feeding and social behaviors of the rough-toothed dolphin population found off the coast of Guerrero, Mexico.
Interspecies interactions between whales and dolphins
Interspecies interactions between whales and dolphins
Interspecies interactions between whales and dolphins
Several species of dolphins regularly interact with humpback whales at our field site. We're using drone-based observations of their behaviors to better understand what happens during these events and the drivers for these occurrences.
Aberrant behavior of a humpback whale
Interspecies interactions between whales and dolphins
Interspecies interactions between whales and dolphins
We are studying the interactions between an aberrant humpback whale we documented interacting with many different marine species.