GEORGE KIEFFER
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SCCN President George Kieffer first became involved with cetaceans in 1983 while a student of marine biology at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. He initiated a field study of bottlenose dolphin populations along the southeastern North Carolina coast, documenting their daily habits and association patterns. In 1986, George became a dolphin trainer and has since worked with them in a diversity of settings – from aquariums to the open sea. He is currently the Director of Dolphins and Programs for the Dolphin Academy, Curaçao Sea Aquarium, Netherlands Antilles. Kieffer has facilitated research on the distribution and variation of cetaceans in the Caribbean, diving physiology of bottlenose dolphins, their sound emission patterns, and an interactive artificial language protocol. Since 2002, he has maintained a marine mammal sightings program to document and assess marine mammal stocks of Curaçao, “I started my career as a field biologist – a lover of science who became fascinated by the biology and behavior of bottlenose dolphins. As a student of marine biology and animal behavior, I was discovering a species that simply did not conform to the standard mold of most herd dwelling animals. I enlisted as a dolphin trainer in the hope of learning more about their individual minds. |
I have occupied that profession my entire adult life and have enjoyed it immensely. Over the years I have come to understand them as a marvel of evolution; having acquired large brains, long lives, complex forms of communication, intricate societies, cultural behavior and distinct “dolphinalities.”
I have discovered dolphins to be both mentally and physically adaptive. Yet despite their flexibility, I have also found them to be vulnerable to the swift and diverse pressures human activities are placing on their habitat.
Dolphins and their cetacean cousins have endured over 50 million years of the ocean’s natural stresses and strains. And now in just the past several decades . . . our impact on the seas has rendered them fragile.
Working with these animals has enriched my life greatly. I feel as though I owe them a debt of gratitude and I believe the SCCN can be a useful means to pay it back . . . and a powerful tool contributing to their future wellbeing.”