Project Leaders
Volunteer with Pink River Dolphins in Brazil

Dr Tony Martin - Project co-leader

Tony is a whale and dolphin biologist who has worked in many parts of the world, but particularly polar regions and the Amazon. He is based in Cambridge, UK, and is the primary project contact for the GVI river dolphin volunteer programme. He is the author of four books and a keen natural history photographer. Tony and Vera da Silva began research work on this fascinating and little-known dolphin more than a decade ago, and have developed the study into the largest of its kind in the world. Tony’s main research interests are in migration, reproduction and population assessment.

Dr Vera da Silva - Project co-leader

Vera is the project’s primary contact within Brazil, and is a biologist at the National Institute of Amazonian Research, based in Manaus. She has worked with the Amazon’s aquatic mammals (dolphins and manatees) for two decades and has an international reputation in this field. Vera oversees the local logistics of the river dolphin study in Mamirauá, and has research interests in physiology, behaviour and reproduction.