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Fighting for their attention
April 04, 2007Mating strategies are straightforward in bottlenose dolphins, or are they? Much of the work carried on male-female relationships in that species to date show that males tend to coerce females who are left with little choice about with whom to mate. This explains the complex relationships we observe in male bottlenose dolphins, which are only paralleled by human social strategies: the formation of alliances and alliances of alliances, also called coalitions. These alliances and coalitions are then used to out-compete other male bands to access females.
A population of bottlenose dolphins in Fiordland, New Zealand, may be rewriting the textbooks. In this population males form alliances and coalitions and have complex social relationships, but they do not coerce females into mating.
David Lusseau, in a study published this week in PLoS ONE, posits that the complexity of male social relationships in this population emerge to compete for female choice. Male coalition formation is observed during fights in this population. Usually coalition formation will be driven by short-term gains for the helper (for example access to females). But there do not appear to be any short-term benefits in coalition and alliance formation in this population. Instead one male band seems to spend much more time with sexually receptive females and females with new calves than others.
Lusseau says: "In a mating system driven by female selection being able to exclude other males from the vicinity of oestrus females means that individuals can be more readily picked as a favourite partner".
The old saying seems to hold true for these dolphins: "far from the eyes, far from the heart".
Public Library of Science
Lusseau says: "In a mating system driven by female selection being able to exclude other males from the vicinity of oestrus females means that individuals can be more readily picked as a favourite partner".
The old saying seems to hold true for these dolphins: "far from the eyes, far from the heart".
Public Library of Science
Dolphins Current Events and Dolphins News RSSFish vision discovery makes waves in natural selection
Emory University researchers have identified the first fish known to have switched from ultraviolet vision to violet vision, or the ability to see blue light. The discovery is also the first example of an animal deleting a molecule to change its visual spectrum.
Getting a leg up on whale and dolphin evolution
When the ancestors of living cetaceans-whales, dolphins and porpoises-first dipped their toes into water, a series of evolutionary changes were sparked that ultimately nestled these swimming mammals into the larger hoofed animal group.
Evidence Points to Conscious 'Metacognition' in Some Nonhuman Animals
J. David Smith, Ph.D., a comparative psychologist at the University at Buffalo who has conducted extensive studies in animal cognition, says there is growing evidence that animals share functional parallels with human conscious metacognition -- that is, they may share humans' ability to reflect upon, monitor or regulate their states of mind.
Hundreds of New Species Discovered in Fragile Eastern Himalayas
Over 350 new species including the world's smallest deer, a "flying frog" and a 100 million-year old gecko have been discovered in the Eastern Himalayas, a biological treasure trove now threatened by climate change.
Human language and dolphin movement patterns show similarities in brevity
Two researchers from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom have shown for the first time that the law of brevity in human language, according to which the most frequently-used words tend to be the shortest, also extends to other animal species.
Spanish scientists develop echo-location in humans
A team of researchers from the University of Alcalá de Henares (UAH) has shown scientifically that human beings can develop echolocation, the system of acoustic signals used by dolphins and bats to explore their surroundings.
Dolphins get a lift from delta wing technology
We can only marvel at the way that dolphins, whales and porpoises scythe through water. Their finlike flippers seem perfectly adapted for maximum aquatic agility.
NOAA, USFWS study finds potential disease threats to Washington sea otters
Many of Washington State's sea otters are exposed to the same pathogens responsible for causing disease in marine mammal populations in other parts of the country.
Dolphins maintain round-the-clock visual vigilance
Dolphins have a clever trick for overcoming sleep deprivation. Sam Ridgway from the US Navy Marine Mammal Program explains that they are able to send half of their brains to sleep while the other half remains conscious.
The numerate honey bee
The remarkable honey bee can tell the difference between different numbers at a glance. A fresh, astonishing revelation about the 'numeracy' of insects has emerged from new research by an international team of scientists from The Vision Centre, in Australia, published January 28 in the online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.
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