The bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ) is the most widespread cetacean in aquariums and dolphinariums around the world. This species has been housed in the tanks of the Genoa Aquarium since 1993 and in the Oltremare park since 2004. In over 25 years of experience, the staff of aquarium keepers, trainers, biologists and veterinarians of Costa Edutainment have developed specific know-how on these animals.
The experience gained in managing the individuals hosted over the years and the scientific research activity carried out in natural environments (in situ) and in controlled environments (ex situ) have allowed us to deepen our knowledge of the biology and behavior of this species. The information collected, shared with the scientific community, is useful for the development of conservation projects alongside management protocols aimed at the welfare of the animals and their reproduction.
METROPOLITAN DOLPHINS
The research project carried out by the Genoa Aquarium in nature is
Metropolitan Dolphins (http://www.delfinimetropolitani.it/) which since 2001 has been studying the presence and habits of dolphins along the coasts of the Pelagos Sanctuary and their interactions with human activities. Since 2024 the project has also developed on the Adriatic coast with 'Metropolitan Dolphins in the Adriatic'. Since 2011 the project data have been regularly shared on the
Intercet platform ( www.intercet.it) and compared with those collected by other research institutions participating in the network, to determine the conservation status of this species at the Mediterranean level (see Intercet and TursioMed projects).
Since 1992, the Costa Edutainment staff has participated in the activities promoted by the European Association of Aquatic Mammals (EAAM) , which deals with the maintenance of aquatic mammals in a controlled environment, promoting conservation activities through in situ and ex situ research, the development of specific veterinary medicine techniques, training, education and other related activities (www.eaam.org). Since 2015, the Genoa Aquarium has become an institutional member.
AWARDS
In 2011, the Genoa Aquarium received recognition as a Zoological Garden under Italian law and has been a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA) since 1998. Oltremare, acquired in 2012 by the Costa Edutainment group, received the Zoological Garden license in 2016, under national law, published in the Official Journal of 28 April 2016.
The knowledge developed through the maintenance of this species and research projects are the basis of the dissemination and awareness-raising action that the Costa Edutainment structures have always carried out, in line with their mission.
MISSION GENOA AQUARIUM
OVERSEAS MISSION
The animals hosted in the Costa Edutainment facilities are ambassadors of messages of protection and safeguarding of our Planet's resources.
The visit to the facilities, together with the moments of meeting and the in-depth activities with our experts, bring the public closer to the natural world and invite them to adopt correct behaviors towards the environment in line with the mission of the facilities themselves.
For this reason, Oltremare has created the event “Get to know the dolphins”, a moment dedicated to knowledge, research and awareness of the species. The public can attend sessions full of information regarding the behaviors of bottlenose dolphins, in action in the different phases of their life, but also discover management techniques with the use of abstract concepts, such as Concept training, to develop an even more advanced communication between man and dolphin.
Oltremare also offers the public a double daily appointment dedicated to emotions with a more theoretical part, to better discover the characteristics of marine mammals.
With the same educational purpose, the Genoa Aquarium inside the Cetacean Pavilion presents an area dedicated to the Cetaceans present in the Pelagos Sanctuary, an area dedicated to the biology of the bottlenose dolphin and an area to the research project Metropolitan Dolphins. Along the exhibition route, there is also an area with several videos that can be viewed on some research and conservation projects in which the Genoa Aquarium is involved, including Metropolitan Dolphins.
INTERACTIVE PROGRAMS
The team of trainers, biologists and veterinarians, guarantees a high quality standard both for the social life of the hosted specimens, and for the value of raising awareness of environmental issues among visitors. The public can book interactive programs (for a fee) where the staff trainers share their stories and the bonds that are established every day with the dolphin family.
In the 3-hour program, “Trainer for a day”, a full immersion in the Dolphins World of Oltremare takes place, divided into different phases: a theoretical lesson in which the biologist illustrates elements of Biology, Evolution and Conservation of Cetaceans, the management of dolphins in a controlled environment, the preparation of food and play, the phases of interaction with the trainers. Then we move on to the session in front of the large glass window of the park, in which the participants experience first-hand the possibility of communicating with the tursiops. Finally, at the Lagoon of Oltremare, the trainers complete the experience by sharing the opportunity to communicate with the dolphins through signals, with the participants. Without entering the water and without direct contact with the animal.
In the one-hour program, 'Meet the Dolphin', there is always a briefing with the biologist at the main window and then the experience in the Lagoon for the practical phase. In the theoretical session the biologist gives a general introduction to the management of dolphins in a controlled environment. In the practical session the participants are involved in a training session led by the trainers, also without entering the water and without direct contact with the animal.
THE 'SAVE A SPECIES' PROJECT
Among the main dissemination actions of the Oltremare park there is also the project "Save a Species", promoted together with the Cattolica Aquarium, dedicated to raising awareness among the general public and aimed at supporting international projects for the conservation of species at risk of extinction. The project benefits from the patronage and moral recognition of the Ministry for the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, the Emilia Romagna Region and the Municipality of Cattolica. An idea that was born and developed to actively contribute to the support of national and international programs with the aim of enhancing and supporting all those selected entities that are concretely committed to the protection and safeguard of threatened species. To learn more
www.salvaunaspecie.it
THE STRUCTURES
Genoa Aquarium
The Cetacean Pavilion that today hosts the bottlenose dolphins is a truly “unique work” and unprecedented in Italy from an engineering point of view, for the design aspects related to respect for the animals’ well-being. It is a structure that hosts communicating tanks, with a total volume of water equal to 4.8 million liters. The choice of the color of the bottom of the tanks, dark blue, is linked to the desire to reproduce as faithfully as possible the marine environment in which these animals live and at the same time not to cause damage to their eyes.
Since autumn 2012, the water in all the Aquarium's tanks has been taken from 50 m deep off the coast of Genoa, filtered, analysed and disinfected before entering the tanks, to maintain high quality standards to protect the animals' well-being.
To allow for greater speed in the event of a veterinary intervention, all the tanks can be easily isolated through watertight doors that isolate the tank in question without preventing passage to the other three. Two of the tanks in the Pavilion are equipped with a mobile platform on the bottom that can be raised to the surface, allowing the animals to be reached very quickly in the event of an emergency, without having to partially empty the tank and at the same time being able to return the animals to the immersion.
A room has been designed for the veterinary and aquarium staff to allow “underwater” observation of the animals in all the tanks.
A small open-air area, designed to allow visitors with motor disabilities to get closer to the animals, without contact, was created for the development of social projects aimed primarily at disadvantaged children to whom Costa Edutainment makes its staff available twice a month for a free visit to the poolside.
In 2014, in this sense, a collaboration was started with the Giannina Gaslini Pediatric Institute for an ongoing program of free guided visits dedicated to children being treated at the Institute.
Overseas 2.0
The Oltremare dolphins live in Dolphins World. The Lagoon that hosts them has a total volume of 9 million liters of salt water, is composed of five communicating tanks and a connecting canal and has been designed to provide the best possible quality of life for the animals. To allow for greater speed in the event of veterinary intervention, all the tanks in this structure are also easily isolated through watertight doors. The nursery tank, used in the event of births or emergency interventions, is equipped with a movable bottom, a real automated platform that can be raised if necessary, allowing easy access to the animals inside the tank, without the need to empty it and to be able to quickly return the animals to the water. All the tanks have work platforms to allow easy access to the animals and staff and there are large acrylics that allow underwater observation of the animals.
DOLPHINS AND STAFF
The animals' meals and moments of interaction between bottlenose dolphins and the staff of the Genoa Aquarium and Oltremare 2.0 take place several times a day in full view of the public. The natural behavior of bottlenose dolphins includes many activities including different types of swimming, games, jumps, communication and socialization activities contextualized in the environment in which they are found. Each individual bottlenose dolphin is then included in a medical prevention program, through which its health status is monitored every day. Veterinarians and biologists can perform routine checks (blood sampling, ultrasounds, biometric measurements, etc.) with the collaboration of the animal itself, which participates in the checks voluntarily.
At the Genoa Aquarium, the staff explains to their audience the biology of the animals and the ecological and conservation issues, remaining available to answer questions and provide insights. The interactions are different each time, alternating dynamic interactions with individual well-being monitoring sessions.
At Oltremare 2.0, moments of interaction and feeding are divided into various types of sessions: dynamic, medical, social and gaming. In the daily appointments, the public can observe part of these interactions.
REGULATIONS FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS
Bottlenose dolphins are included in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), considered a species at least at risk of extinction. Like all protected species, they are included in the lists of the Washington Convention (CITES) which regulates their trade worldwide. In Europe, trade is limited to specimens born in a controlled environment and the capture of dolphins at sea is prohibited, as is the entry of animals captured at sea, even if the capture was carried out outside the borders of the Union.
The dolphins hosted at the Costa Edutainment facilities are therefore taken from nature before 1992, before the European Community adopted the Washington Convention (CITES) regulations, or born in a controlled environment. For each specimen kept in a controlled environment there is a certificate attesting to its provenance issued by the competent Authority - in Italy the Carabinieri Unit Command for Forestry, Environmental and Agri-food Protection - CITES Service after approval by the Scientific Commission (CITES).
Italy is one of the very few countries to have specific legislation that provides for the maintenance of bottlenose dolphins in a controlled environment: the Regulation amending the decree of 6 December 2001, no. 469, regarding the maintenance in captivity of specimens of dolphins belonging to the species Tursiops truncatus. (17G00184) and also implemented by the decree on zoos (Legislative Decree 73/2005) and further amended by Decree of 14 September 2017, no. 171. Regulation amending the decree of 6 December 2001, no. 469, regarding the maintenance in captivity of specimens of dolphins belonging to the species Tursiops truncatus. (17G00184). This decree establishes the conditions for the maintenance in a controlled environment of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), permitted only if specific education, conservation, research and reproduction programs are guaranteed.
THE ORIGIN OF THE GUEST DOLPHINS
The individuals hosted by the Acquario di Genova and Oltremare 2.0 are registered in the European
studbook (census book) that is part of the EAZA EEP Programme. Groups of animals are regularly exchanged between European facilities for reproductive and social purposes, a bit like what happens in nature in social groups that form with fusion and fission strategies, descending from specimens originally captured in the wild, many years ago.
The European population is made up of approximately 260 specimens divided equally between males and females, of which 70% were born in a controlled environment.
At present, the Genoa Aquarium also hosts four bottlenose dolphins seized by the competent authority from the Rimini Dolphinarium in September 2013 and since then entrusted to the Genoese facility.
CETACEAN RESEARCH
Ex situ studies (in a controlled environment)
The studies conducted within the Genoa Aquarium are mainly focused on ethology - the study of behavior - and reproduction of the bottlenose dolphin, also in the veterinary field. Some examples are the study on the sleep of the bottlenose dolphin, which investigates the ability of these animals to sleep with only one hemisphere at a time in order to always be able to come back to the surface to breathe and to be alert to any dangers.
An important research on the evolution and function of sleep in a young bottlenose dolphin was published in 2006 in the prestigious international scientific journal Nature. Another study was published in 2016 in the international journal Population Ecology on the social relationships that bottlenose dolphins build with other bottlenose dolphins that inhabit the same territory. Other research has been conducted on the communication between mother and calf and on individual recognition systems through “signature whistles”. At the Oltremare 2.0 facility, research has focused on the reproduction of bottlenose dolphins, with particular attention to the significant parameters for the regular development of the pups, on sociability in a controlled environment and on language.
In 2018, however, it was possible to complete an interesting research on the molecular characterization of the intestinal microbiota of the bottlenose dolphin, in collaboration with the University of Bologna, the results of which were presented at the AAAM conference and published
In situ research (in the open sea)
In the Pelagos Sanctuary area, the Genoa Aquarium and the Genoa Aquarium Foundation Onlus conduct scientific projects aimed at deepening knowledge on Cetaceans and promoting their conservation. There are two main projects: Metropolitan Dolphins and Intercet. Since 2024, the Metropolitan Dolphins project has also expanded to the Adriatic area, with monitoring at sea off the coast of Romagna.
METROPOLITAN DOLPHINS. Born in 2001 with the aim of studying the presence and habits of dolphins along the coasts of the Pelagos Sanctuary and their interactions with human activities. Since 2024 the study has also developed on the Adriatic side. The research focuses on the bottlenose dolphin, a shallow-water dolphin that rarely goes deeper than one hundred meters and shares its privileged habitat with an often cumbersome guest: man. The dolphins are studied through the "photo-identification" technique that allows each individual to be recognized through the characteristic signs present on the dorsal fin. The comparison of the data collected along the Ligurian and Romagna coasts with those of other entities that operate within the Pelagos Sanctuary and the Adriatic Sea is continuous. It has been estimated that there are about 1000 dolphins, of which 200 have been identified, on the Ligurian coast. The Romagna data will be collected and presented in June 2025. To learn more: www.delfinimetropolitani.it
INTERCET. It is an online platform designed and developed by the Genoa Aquarium for the Liguria Region as part of the Gionha project; its function is to promote cooperation between entities involved in research on cetaceans and sea turtles, through the aggregation and integrated analysis of data collected by different entities. To learn more: www.intercet.it, www.gionha.eu.
CROCIERACQUARIO, since spring 2008, the CrocierAcquario project has been added to Delfini Metropolitani, allowing participants, during half-day boat trips, to take part in the researchers' activities with involvement in field study activities, learning to recognize Cetaceans and, more importantly, to respect them and their environment.
TURSIOMED. It is the largest research project on the conservation status of the bottlenose dolphin in the Mediterranean Sea, involving 25 research institutions from 6 Mediterranean countries. The project is funded by the Blue Planet Foundation – Virginia Böger Stiftung and coordinated by the Fondazione Acquario di Genova Onlus, with the participation of WWF Italian Switzerland and the patronage of Accobams (Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area). The main objective is to evaluate the conservation status of the Mediterranean bottlenose dolphin, expanding the collaboration network between the various research institutions. The individual institutions will share their data (sighting points of the species under study and of other Cetaceans, photographic data for the photo-identification of individuals through the natural markings of the dorsal fin) on the platform www.intercet.it, designed and managed by the Fondazione Acquario di Genova for the Liguria Region within the GIONHA project.
WHALESAFE. The Genoa Aquarium participates in Whalesafe, a project co-financed by the European Union through the Life+ program, which sees the University of Genoa (Department of Physics and Department of Earth, Environmental and Life Sciences), Costa Edutainment, the Maritime Directorate of Genoa, the Port Authority of Savona and Softeco united for the conservation of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus).
Whalesafe is implementing a system of buoys in the area off the port of Savona capable of detecting and monitoring sperm whales, identifying threats and preventing collisions and other risks by issuing real-time warning messages to vessels in the area.
To learn more http://www.whalesafe.eu/index.php/it/
INTERMED. InterMed is a project for the study and conservation of cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea, which is developed through a research network of 32 institutions from 9 Mediterranean countries: Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey, Israel and Tunisia. The sighting data collected by each institution are shared on the Intercet platform to be analyzed in aggregate form. Photo-identification data of the bottlenose dolphin, Risso's dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale and sperm whale are also shared and compared, so as to be able to reconstruct the movements of individual individuals through the different study areas. The results obtained will allow us to improve our knowledge of the distribution and ecology of cetaceans that inhabit the Mediterranean basin. The InterMed project, coordinated by the Fondazione Acquario di Genova, was funded by the Fondazione Blue Planet - Virginia Böger Stiftung XX
PROMED (PRotecting MEditerranean Diversity). Begun in 2023, PROMED is an important research project for the protection of Cetacean diversity in the Mediterranean Sea, which aims to evaluate the conservation status of Cetaceans living in the Mare Nostrum and monitor species diversity, especially in relation to the effects of climate change. The project, which will last 3 years, is funded by the Aderholt Goh Trust, a charitable fund committed to safeguarding marine biodiversity by supporting scientific research, is coordinated by the Fondazione Acquario di Genova Onlus and involves a network of over 50 research institutes at Mediterranean level.
In 2012, Oltremare participated in the project “First assessment of the presence of Cetaceans in the waters of the Comoros Islands” by providing equipment to the Department of Life Sciences and Biological Systems of the University of Turin and with the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Comoros.
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