Just like people, dolphins are susceptible to disease outbreaks. 🐬🦠 Unlike us, however, they cannot rely on public health regulations or modern medicine to stymie its impacts. 
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@pcdolphinproject was founded in part to study an airborne viral outbreak that caused a mass mortality event among Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay dolphins from 2013-2015.
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They are discovering about how and why disease spreads amongst our local dolphin population, how healthy the population is now and how can we keep them healthy and prevent more outbreaks.
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One reason airborne viruses spread easily amongst dolphins? 😮‍💨🌬As highly social animals, dolphins also have a tendency to coordinate their dives, ascents, and movements at the surface with other dolphins (as shown in this GIF!) Therefore, they can transmit respiratory droplets when they surface to breathe.
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Groups of dolphins can become very large and tight knit with multiple individuals sometimes less than a foot apart from one another. The average number of Potomac dolphins in a group is 19 but groups can reach over 230 dolphins! 
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Learn more on our blog at potomac.org/blog.

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📸: IMAGES COURTESY OF MELISSA COLLIER, POTOMAC-CHESAPEAKE DOLPHIN PROJECT. TAKEN UNDER NOAA NMFS PERMIT NO. 23782

How can you increase diversity outdoors? By promoting the representation of all the many Black people that are already out there, loving nature. 🚵🏽‍♂️🚣🏿🏄🏽‍♀️🏊🏾‍♂️🤽🏿‍♂️🧗🏾‍♂️
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Please explore, follow, and boost these organizations, who have been doing the work all along:
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1. @outdoorafro
2. @soultrakoutdoors
3. @girltrek
4. @blackgirlstrekkin
5. @colorthecrag
6. @browngirlsclimb
7. @allmountainbrothers
8. @melaninbasecamp
9. @outdoorjournaltour
10. @blackgirlswithgardens
11. @wecoloroutside
12. @colourthetrails
13. @blackpeoplewhohike
14. @officialblackgirlsrun
15. @blackoutside_inc
16. @blackAFinSTEM
17. @citykidswildernessproject
18. @hbcusoutside
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Comment with other orgs that do the work to promote diversity in the outdoor space!

Holy Potomac, Batman! DYK it’s #BatAppreciationMonth? 🦇🦇🦇
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Let’s talk about bats, because not only do they serve as pollinators, seed spreaders, and pest control - they’re in trouble. In Virginia alone, 7 out of 17 bat species are threatened or endangered.🤭
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So what’s threatening these furry flyers? Habitat loss, water contamination, and pesticide use, for a start. The good news is that one of the best ways to help bats is also one of the best ways to help our river.
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By protecting upstream lands, waters, and forests from development, our Lands program is keeping pollution out of the Potomac AND preserving bat habitats. Some of the caves on our lands arr maternity colony sites, where thousands of female bats congregate to raise their young.
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Go to the link in our bio to take a quiz on the bats in our backyard and find out how to help.
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📸: Image of an Eastern red bat by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren

Today’s to do list:
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- Vote! (Or turn in your ballot or help a friend or family member vote or turn in their ballot.)
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- Take a deep breath and take care of yourself. Not all votes will be counted today, so pace yourself and relax - here are 10 calming photos from the Potomac River region to help.
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📸s: Images 1,3,5,6,7,10 by Geoff Livingston; Images 2,4,8,9 by Mike Maguire

🔊Interrupt your doomscrolling with the soothing song of the male Eastern American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus americanus).

The breeding season for these warty amphibians begins as soon as they emerge from their winter hibernation - which can begin as early as January and February in warmer southern states. Males sing their mating call in large choruses, usually in the early evening but also during warm and humid days. Toads depend on wet depressions (shallow areas within lakes, ponds, streams, wetlands, puddles, floodplains, canals, etc.) to breed and lay eggs.

So, as we inch closer to spring and warmer weather, keep your ears open for the growing choir of toads and frogs that inhabit our local woods and waters.

Happy #NationalDolphinDay!!! To celebrate, we’ll be taking over the @wethedogsdc handle today. That’s right it’s... We the Dolphins DC!! 🐬🐬🐬
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Follow along there to learn more about our local dolphin population, some individuals that return to our waters every year, the research of the Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project, and how you can help support a healthy environment for these amazing animals!!
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🐬🐬🐬
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📸s taken under NMFS Permit #19403. Follow the Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project @pcdolphinproject.

Two years ago today, this whopper rainstorm in the DC region gave us an - we hate to say it - *extremely accurate preview* of what the climate crisis is bringing to our daily lives.

How do we know ⛈s are tied to climate change? From our recent Climate Report: “Though it can be hard to say for certain whether a particular storm was caused by climate change, one local scientist said that climate change is like “loading the dice” in favor of extreme weather events. In the Potomac watershed, a warming atmosphere is able to build up more moisture before it gushes out as rain, leading to more intense storms with more dry days in between. This phenomenon also makes blizzards more likely, even if the winters are milder. Hurricanes and nor’easters are also becoming more frequent and more intense, impacting local infrastructure.”

In other words, events like these will happen more often and we need to take action NOW to improve our infrastructure, protect public health and safety, and safeguard our drinking water. #ThisisanEmergency

📸: Images of Flooding on Canal Road, July 8, 2019 courtesy of Dave Dildine/WTOP

Us trying to make new friends after social distancing for 18 months…🦇🕸🦉
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Happy October, 🎃spooky season, and #BatAppreciationMonth from this red-bellied woodpecker and brown bat.
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📸: Douglas Mills/Flickr