TAMPA, Fla. — Local scientists are trying to figure out what exactly is turning dolphins' bellies pink while hanging out in the Florida waters.
10 Tampa Bay Photojournalist Tim Burquest met with experts with the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program who say dolphins' bellies do blush – but not because they're embarrassed.
"What we know is that the animals are facing an increasingly serious situation," explains Randall Wells, the research program's director. "They are mammals like us so they produce heat like we do and they have very few mechanisms for being able to shed that heat.
"So overheating is a potential issue..."
According to Wells, the water temperature as of now is more than 90 degrees where the dolphins live – leaving the mammals with no refuge of getting away from the heat.
Ultimately, the way dolphins are able to deal with the hot waters is by increasing blood flow to their outer bodies, the director explains. Part of this way of adapting means more blood will be near the surface of the body, turning some of the white skin pink in color.
"We find that in the summertime in general, more dolphins die than any other time of the year," Wells said. "We can't say for certain how heat is related to that but we suspect that heat stress may exacerbate a number of problems..."
The process of bringing more blood near the surface of the body is called vasodilation, research leaders explain online.
"We're in an unprecedented situation to have this hot of water for this long without the rains coming in each afternoon to help keep things cooler is really a different situation than what we've faced before," the director stated.
To learn more about dolphins from the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, click here.