ORPHAN-INDUCED LACTATION IN TURSIOPS AND ANALYSIS OF COLLECTED MILK

Two non-lactating, non-gravid female bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops tru ncatus, (SLA, age 32 yr and TOD, age 34 yr) began lactating within one week after being housed with a 6.5- and 6.75-month-old orphaned calf, respectively. Cooperative swimming and nursing behaviors were quickly evident in both cow/ calf pairs. During the first 2.5 mo a milk subst itute, eventually in combination with some whole fish, was used to sup plement nursing in both carves. After this initial period, supplementa l feeding was discontinued. SLA then became her adopted calfs sole sou rce of nutrition for the next 5 mo, followed by another 6 mo during wh ich the calf shifted to a predominantly fish diet with occasional nurs ing. TOD's orphan also continued to nurse beyond the 2.5-mo supplement ation period and began voluntarily accepting small quantities of fish; suckling continued over the next year while fish consumption increase d. Using a modified human breast pump, trainers collected milk at inte rvals from the adult dolphins throughout the lactation period. The fir st milk collected from TOD (day 8 after housing with calf) and SLA (da y 12 with her calf) contained 6.0% and 10.3% fat, respectively. On day 68 TOD's milk fat had increased to 23.5%, and on day 37 that of SLA m easured 22.5%. These later values are similar to those reported for no rmally lactating bottlenose dolphins.