LAUSR

Dolphins are marine mammals with unique anatomical structures in their airways. These particular respiratory structures make dolphins very sensitive to microorganisms in the air, and the habitats of dolphins in captivity and in the wild are quite different. This causes captive dolphins to suffer from illnesses, especially respiratory diseases. Previous studies have shown that the respiratory flora plays an essential role in the health of humans and animals. Therefore, by comparative analysis of the respiratory flora of wild dolphins and dolphins in captivity, we want to find the flora related to dolphins’ respiratory diseases, and try to improve dolphin health through flora homeostasis. For this purpose, we performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing and analyses. We found that Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Campilobacterota, Paracoccus, and other flora differed between wild and healthy and sub-healthy captive dolphins. Some of them are the dominant flora for promoting health, and the others may be essential pathogenic bacteria in the sub-healthy state of dolphins in captivity.