Now that I've been on prescription narcotics a few days, I'm ready to tackle
la Nueva Ciudad de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, more familiarly known as New
LA. Without getting into all the details right now, let it be given that a
California Voodoo group felt it necessary to import dolphins from Earth (the
senior dolphin in the pod will be designated "the Eater of Soles", evidentally
a little problem with literacy here).
So how many dolphins does it take to make a viable community, and how much
room do they take up?
(What's the rest of New LA like? Take LA as it is now, add a fairly large
mixture of Brazilian Carnival, subtract US law, add the flakes and nuts from
other habs that failed. Got that? Okay, that too conservative for the
Angelenos).
G'day,
OK I'll bite - I have this little voice telling me its all a drug
induced joke though and I'm about to hear the line go twang and the rod whirl
as I get wound in....
> So how many dolphins does it take to make a viable community,
A few (potentially helpful) dolphin facts for you:
On average an adult dolphin will eat 4-9% of its body weight in fish
(either finfish or cephalopds) per day.
The maximum age for bottlenose dolphins is between 40 and 50 years, but this
can average as little as 10 years in some regions (and for some
species... and whether or not they fish for tuna in the area) - many die
before the age of 2.
Female dolphins will give birth every 2-3 years and could have as many
as 8 pregnancies during their lifetime.
Dolphins travel in pods of up to 15. A pod typically consists of several adult
females, calves and adult males, but they seem to be in a periodic state of
flux (with individuals traveling with one group swimming miles away with
another the next day). A more stable subgroup of two to six dolphins may
remain together over long periods (probably the minimum New LA could get away
with for social behaviour reasons). Mothers and their calves
have been observed together for at least 3-6 years, and unrelated adults
often form long-term bonds (usually same sex and age group). Separation
of groups along the lines of age and sex is common (i.e mothers and their
calves in one group, juveniles in another and mature males in a different pod
again (which rarely mixes with either of the first 2)). During feeding,
smaller pods may interact and join into larger groups. So although solitary
individuals are sometimes seen in the wild dolphins usually live in pods
composed of two to twenty-five dolphins. Inshore, coastal, groups tend
to be smaller, with an average size of ten, but groupings may exist as large
as one thousand. The size of the group may depend partially on the need for
surveillance against predators as well as the quantity and distribution of
available food. So family interaction wise 5 is minimum, 10 is OK. However,
dolphins are promiscuous so you'd want multiple mature males and females if
they were to have a healthy reproductive behaviour. Genetics wise you'll
want 500+ for a sustainable, probably healthy population.
As for how much room they'll need, we are far from knowing the precise ranges
for populations of dolphins, especially those who live far from shore. Most,
seem to prefer a relatively small area within a protected bay or shallow
lagoon where they establish a "home base". However, they often move within a
larger range to find food, to mate, or to escape predators. Pods of bottlenose
dolphins in California seem to have a range of about 30 km along the coast
line and in Florida they have a total max range of about 85 km2. The actual
distances traveled vary with sex and age: females with calves have the largest
home range (average 40 km2); juvenile males usually have a significantly
smaller range; and groups of adult male, adult females without calves, and
juvenile females have the smallest ranges (about
15-20
km2). With each subrange of the larger pods was centered in different areas,
so it looks like social units of like sex and age tend to define the home
ranges of various pods.
Hope that helps the hardy citizens of la Nueva Ciudad de Nuestra Senora de
Los Angeles - though it does bring up the question of import/export
bans... ;)
Cheers
Beth
> OK I'll bite - I have this little voice telling me its all a
Thanks, Beth.
In gratitude, the citizens of New LA will name their
dolphin-transporter the MV Fulton, probably without regard to
your wishes on the matter. The annual trip to Earth and return
will be a religious ceremony--granted New LA has something like
400 legal religious holidays per year, it's taking some work to fit them all
in, particularly when some of them are movable
feasts--as they bring a new dolphin family into the Domain of
the Eater of Soles.