Gut microbiota of captive common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus gilli: investigation of age, sex, birthplace, and frequency of human contact influence

Dolphins are aquatic mammals, whose role in microbial ecology is not fully understood. It is critical to study the microbiota of dolphins kept in captivity, as close contact with humans could unpredictably affect both humans and animals health. In this study, we investigated the gut microbiota of 15 captive common bottlenose dolphins, and the relationship of microbial diversity and composition with animals age, sex, birthplace (dolphinarium or wildlife), and direct contacts with dolphinarium visitors using using high-throughput V3-V4 16S rRNA sequencing.