Randall Wells, Sarasota Dolphin Research Program leader, wins Lifetime Achievement Award
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Randall Wells, director of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, has received the Kenneth S. Norris Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Marine Mammalogy.
The award, named for the SMM’s founding president, acknowledges exemplary lifetime contributions to science and society through research, teaching, and service in marine mammalogy. It is awarded every two years and is the highest honor bestowed on members of the world’s leading professional society for marine mammal science and conservation.
"I am truly honored by this award, and humbled by the list of folks who have received it before me,” Wells said. “I have to credit most of the achievements of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program over the past 50-plus years to the efforts of a superb team of staff, students, and volunteers, as well as the support of the Chicago Zoological Society."
Wells co-founded the Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program in 1970, making it the world’s longest-running study of a wild dolphin population. Over the years, he and his team have made many contributions to knowledge of bottlenose dolphin behavior, social structure, life history, health, ecology, communication, and the effects of human activities on these complex marine mammals. The team also helps rescue injured dolphins and has trained more than 400 researchers and students from over 30 countries.
Wells also has assisted in studies, rescue efforts, and consultations for other marine life, including the highly endangered vaquita in the Gulf of California; spinner dolphins in Hawaii; Guiana dolphins in Brazil; blue, gray, bowhead, and humpback whales; manatees in Florida and Belize; and franciscana dolphins off the coasts of Argentina and Brazil.
Wells is author or co-author of several books, more than 290 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and more than 100 technical reports. Wells also has held leadership roles in several organizations, including president for the Society for Marine Mammalogy and past-chair of the NOAA/USFWS Working Group on Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events.
For more information, visit sarasotadolphin.org.
Submitted by Sondra Katzen
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota dolphin researcher wins Lifetime Achievement Award
