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Photo by Debra McGuire

Finishing up our list of fascinating dolphin facts this week, courtesy of USA Today:

15. Our fetuses look very similar.

While unborn babies of humans and dolphins are in the uterus, they both have a tail, though for humans that is only briefly. Scientists believe these so-called protrusions are a legacy of genetic material from ancestors.  » Read more

Photo from travelpulse.com

Courtesy of USA Today, we’re continuing the list of surprising similarities between humans and dolphins.  Did you know:

12. We are self-aware.

Researchers discovered that dolphins become self-aware at an earlier age than humans and chimpanzees. Investigators studied two young dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and watched how the mammals interacted with their images in a mirror.  » Read more

Photo by Debra McGuire

More delightful dolphin facts, courtesy of USA Today.  Did you know:

8. Our genomes are virtually the same.

Veterinarians at Texas A&M University compared the chromosome makeup of humans and dolphins and found that we are surprisingly alike. David Busbee, a veterinarian from Texas A&M, said the genomes of humans and dolphins were virtually the same.  » Read more

Photo by Vincent LeColley

Courtesy of USA Today, we’re continuing our list of surprising similarities between humans and dolphins.  Did you know:

4. Some live in small groups.

The size of the pod varies, but most groups are between two and 30 members. In areas where there is plenty of food,  » Read more

Photo by Andrea Izzotti

Forget about Shark Week!  We’d rather highlight a delightful creature closer to home.  So many of our guests fall in love with our bottlenose dolphin, and it’s easy to understand why.

We thought it would be fun to re-run our series detailing surprising similarities between humans and dolphins, based on interesting information found in USA Today and on smithsonianmag.com.  » Read more

If you’re lucky enough to be on island this week, note that this upcoming Thursday night marks our next new moon when pitch-black skies will  make for the clearest stargazing.

What better place to spread a blanket and gaze skyward than on our Ocean’s Reach beach?  As you may know, our island beaches have the added bonus of benefiting from the city’s lack of streetlights and dark-skies ordinance.  » Read more

Every once in a while, we need to evoke a serious tone on our blog.

Between 2006 and 2021, there were a total of 444 deaths related to lightning strikes, with the state of Florida leading the way.  Sadly, last summer, a South Carolina man was killed after he and his wife were both struck by lightning while with their two young children on a Sanibel beach.  » Read more

“I bring my worries to the shore with me,

and lose them in the wise old sea.”

– Anonymous

Should you have any photos you’d like to share, please email them to [email protected].

Today’s Guest Photographer:  Nicky Vincent

   » Read more

Some of our favorite beach buddies are Royal Terns, delightfully captured in the photos above by frequent guest Bruce K. from Kewaskum, WI during his annual visit to Ocean’s Reach earlier this year.

What could be more delightful?  How about squabbling Royal Terns?

We found this awesome video on YouTube from a few years back,  » Read more

2021 First Place Winner:  Doug Meurer – “Roseate Spoonbill & Reddish Egret”

It’s that time again!  The 30th annual “Ding” Darling Day Amateur Photography Contest is underway!

The contest, sponsored by the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS), is held in conjunction with “Ding” Darling’s Art in the Wild Day, scheduled for October 29, 2022.

Deadline for submission is September 15,  » Read more