AFTER A 240 YEAR ABSENCE, FRESHWATER DOLPHINS RETURN TO THE FINGER LAKES

Above: The preserved dolphin that provided the DNA

In April of 2009, John Hammond, a Cornell Graduate Student in Marine Genetics was telling a friend about the freshwater dolphins he had recently seen on a trip to Brazil. In an amazing bit of coincidence, the friend he was telling the story to – Simone Aigues – was writing her dissertation on the changes in the ecosystems of New York State since the arrival of settlers – including the largely-unknown loss of the freshwater dolphin. Within days, Hammond, Aigues were working over breakfast on a plan to bring the dolphins back.  

With help of a $132 Million discretionary grant from Governor Cuomo and State Senator Donnie Mazuli, the secret Finger Lakes Innovation Porpoise Program, Eastern Region (F.L.I.P.P.E.R) was born. Hammond started the project by analyzing the DNA of the freshwater dolphins in Brazil, and then comparing the DNA from a baby freshwater dolphin preserved in amber that was found during construction of the Olney Place Deli on Keuka Lake in 2006. 

Incredibly – the DNA of the two species was 99.99% the same, with the .01% difference being the gene that controls the size of the dolphins.  This difference however was critical, as the full size dolphins would not be able to find enough food to survive in the Finger Lakes. Scientists were able to splice and edit the genes of the freshwater dolphin with gene 48zFG5A – known in genetics as the “short-n-stumpy gene” (the same gene responsible for the unusually small hands of President Trump). 

After the genes were spliced, embryos were created and implanted into female freshwater dolphins brought in from Brazil.  Four months later, and 6 years after F.L.I.P.P.E.R. was launched, 142 two-inch long baby dolphins were born. A breeding population was soon in place and at 6am this morning the State Department of Environmental Conservation introduced 2,200 dolphins each into Seneca, Cayuga and Keuka Lakes.