Acoustic behavior associated with cooperative task success in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

Abstract

Although many species have proven capable of cooperating to achieve common goals, the role of communication in cooperation has received relatively little attention. Analysis of communication between partners is vital in determining whether actions are truly cooperative rather than serendipitous or learned via trial and error (Chalmeau and Gallo in Behav Process 35:101-111, 1996a. doi: 10.1016/0376-6357(95)00049-6 , Primates 37:39-47, 1996b. doi: 10.1007/BF02382918 ). Wild cetaceans often produce sounds during cooperative foraging, playing, and mating, but the role of these sounds in cooperative events is largely unknown. Here, we investigated acoustic communication between two male bottlenose dolphins while they cooperatively opened a container (Kuczaj et al. in Anim Cogn 18:543-550, 2015b. doi: 10.1007/s10071-014-0822-4 ). Analyses of whistles, burst pulses, and bi-phonations that occurred during four contexts (i.e., no container, no animals interacting with container, one animal interacting with container, and two animals interacting with container) revealed that overall sound production rate significantly increased during container interactions. Sound production rates were also significantly higher during cooperative successes than solo successes, suggesting that the coordination of efforts rather than the apparatus itself was responsible for the phonation increase. The most common sound type during cooperative successes was burst pulse signals, similar to past recordings of cooperative events in bottlenose dolphins (Bastian in Animal sonar systems. Laboratoire de Physiologie Acoustique, Jouy-en Josas, pp 803-873, 1967; Connor and Smolker 1996).

Vocal activities reflect the temporal distribution of bottlenose dolphin social and non‐social activity in a zoological park

“…This result also reveals that chirps and whistles should be studied separately (Gridley et al, ). While an increase in whistle rates during social play could be expected, the increase during solitary play was more surprising, as most studies consider whistles primarily as social signals (Caldwell et al, ; dos Santos, Louro, Couchinho, & Brito, ; Eskelinen et al, ; Gridley et al, ; Herzing, ; Janik & Slater, ; King & Janik, ; Kuczaj II, Eskelinen, Jones, & Borger‐Turner, ). However, a few studies have found that whistles could be produced in more nonsocial contexts, such as feeding (Acevedo‐Gutiérrez & Stienessen, ; dos Santos et al, ).…”

“…In captivity, positively reinforced dolphins produce chirps more frequently than non‐reinforced individuals (Caldwell, Caldwell, & Tyack, ). Pulsed sounds are traditionally associated with echolocation clicks (Au, ), but they can be observed during foraging (Eskelinen, Winship, Jones, Ames, & Kuczaj, ), and sometimes in agonistic interactions (Vollmer, Hayek, Heithaus, & Connor, ). This category, less explored than whistles, could include several functional sub‐categories (Gridley et al, ).…”

Гидроакустические Закономерности Пищевого Поведения Дельфинов

“…Основная функция разговорного языка -передача и обмен информацией между животными. Можно полагать, что именно наличие разговорного языка позволяет дельфинам организовывать различные виды сотрудничества и кооперации во время поиска и ловли рыбы [3,7,19]. Это свидетельствует, в свою очередь, о наличии у них сложных видов психической и интеллектуальной деятельности.…”

“…Вместе с тем совершенная эхолокационная Морской биологический журнал 2018 Том 3 № 2 система животных позволяет обнаруживать объекты питания (рыбные скопления) на расстоянии до 13 км и классифицировать их за сотни метров, чтобы двигаться к ним кратчайшим путём. Более того, дельфины могут оптимизировать пищевое поведение для экономии энергии, организуя различные виды сотрудничества и сложной кооперации между собой во время поиска и ловли рыбы [3,7,19].…”

Testing use of a potential cognitive enrichment device by an Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus)

“…Recent studies have examined dolphin cooperation (Eskelinen, Winship, Jones, Ames, & Kuczaj, 2016; Jaakkola, Guarino, Donegan, & King, 2018; Kuczaj, Winship, & Eskelinen, 2015). Kuczaj et al, (2015) introduced an apparatus to a group of six dolphins under human care that contained fish and ice reinforcement and was designed to be manipulated by pairs of dolphins.…”