Believe it or not, this picture was not taken by responders on site, but with a drone! In some cases, dolphins can strand in really tricky areas that can make it difficult for us to access them. This dolphin stranded high up in the marsh near Demetre Park on James Island and wasn't reachable by land or boat. Our stranding tech, Nicole, is also a licensed drone pilot and was able to locate the animal within 2 minutes of launching the drone. Detailed images were taken which allowed us to make some basic external observations (it was clearly identified as a male) and even get a total body length!
Drones are a revolutionary new tool that is changing the way we can study live marine mammals and here at LMMN, we are excited to be testing out how they can improve the way we can respond to strandings.
