WINTER’S  STORY
In December 2005 a fisherman found a dolphin tangled in the ropes of a crab trap. Fighting to free herself, the dolphin had serious injuries, like deep cuts on her mouth and tongue. The net cut off the blood to her flukes (tail fins). A team of scientists rescued her from the crab net but they could not save her tail fins peduncle (the joint that connects the tail fins to the upper body). Without the baby’s tail fins she would be limited to her ability to move so she would be a easy target for prey. Scientists took her to the clear water Aquarium, a small place on Florida’s west coast. About 150,000 people go there a year as the aquarium holds stingrays, sea turtles, river otters, etc. At the aquarium, a team of more than 150 vets nursed her, who named Winter, back to health. After a while Winter was wiggling her way around the water. The little dolphin propelled herself in a side to side motion like a shark or alligator moves soon she moved a third of a speed of a dolphin. Scientists worried that the way Winter was swimming would injure Winters spine because the way she was bending her body in a unnatural way for dolphins. So she got given regular thermo grams. A thermo gram is a body scan that is sensitive to thermo radiation –radiation emitted by a warm body- and can detect abnormities in bones, nerves, muscles, and blood vessels. Winters vets knew Japanese scientists who had fitted fitted Fuji an elderly dolphin with an artificial tail fin a few years ago. However Fuji‘s tail was only partly intact. Kevin Corroll, a vice president at hanger orthopedic says trying to fit Winter was hard it took three months. Corroll checks Winter artificial tail every three months because Winter is growing bigger and her body is changing all the time.