Bottlenose dolphins exchange signature whistles when meeting at sea

Quick, Nicola J.; Janik, Vincent M.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.2537

Cited by 98 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Within the fission-fusion society in which dolphins exist, these signals are used to maintain group cohesion (Janik & Slater, 1998), facilitate group joins (Quick & Janik, 2012) and address conspecifics . Whistles may also be used to share information on food patches (King & Janik, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Each bottlenose dolphin uses an individually distinctive signature whistle which is acquired through vocal production learning in the first year of life (Caldwell & Caldwell, 1979;Janik & Slater, 1997). Around 50% of all whistles recorded from free-ranging bottlenose dolphins are signature whistles (Cook, Sayigh, Blum, & Wells, 2004) which are used to convey identity information (Janik, Sayigh, & Wells, 2006), facilitate group contact (Janik & Slater, 1998;Quick & Janik, 2012) and address conspecifics . The function of other, nonsignature whistles in the dolphin's repertoire is less well understood.…”

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Changes in bottlenose dolphin whistle parameters related to vessel presence, surface behaviour and group composition

et al. 2016

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Cetacean watching from tour boats has increased in recent years and has been promoted as an ethically viable alternative to cetacean viewing in captive facilities or directed take. However, short-and long-term impacts of this industry on the behaviour and energetic expenditure of cetaceans have been documented. Although multiple studies have investigated the acoustic 1 response of dolphins to marine tourism, there are several covariates that could also explain some of these results and should be considered simultaneously. Here, we investigated whether common bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, inhabiting Walvis Bay, Namibia vary their whistle parameters in relation to boat presence, surface behaviour and/or group composition. We detected an upward shift of up to 1.99 kHz in several whistle frequency parameters when dolphins were in the presence of one or more tour boats and the research vessel. No changes were demonstrated in the frequency range, number of inflection points or duration of whistles. A similar, although less pronounced difference was observed in response to engine noise generated by the research vessel when idling, suggesting that noise alone plays an important role in driving this shift in whistle frequency. Additionally, a strong effect of surface behaviour was observed, with the greatest difference in whistle parameters detected between resting and other behavioural states that are associated with higher degrees of emotional arousal. Group composition also contributed to the variation observed, with the impact of boats dependent on whether calves were present or not. Overall these results demonstrate high natural variation in the frequency parameters of whistles utilized by dolphins over varying behavioural states and group composition. Anthropogenic impact in the form of marine tour boats can influence the vocalization parameters of dolphins and such changes could have a long-term impact if they reduce the communication range of whistles or increase energy expenditure. Key wordsbottlenose dolphin, marine tourism, Namibia, Tursiops truncatus, vocal behaviour Wildlife tourism involving cetacean (whale, dolphin and porpoise) watching has experienced rapid growth since the 1990s (Hoyt, 2001;O'Connor, Campbell, Cortez, & Knowles, 2009). 2Globally, boat-based cetacean watching generates an estimated 2.2 billion US dollars annually (IWC, 2014). Revenue can provide a valuable subsidy to fishing communities and in some cases wild cetacean viewing has replaced direct hunting of whales and dolphins (Amir & Jiddawi, 2001;Berggren et al., 2007). Compared with captive facilities, responsible boatbased cetacean watching has been promoted as an ethically acceptable option for observing dolphins, providing a valuable forum for environmental education and promotion of conservation efforts (IFAW, 1997). However, a considerable body of work has shown that boats and boat-based cetacean watching can have multiple negative impacts on the behaviour of the focal individual, population or species (Parsons,...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Changes in bottlenose dolphin whistle parameters related to vessel presence, surface behaviour and group composition

et al. 2016

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“…In bottlenose dolphins, for example, signature whistles provide identity information (Caldwell and Caldwell, 1965;Sayigh et al, 1999), and are used to maintain group cohesion (Janik and Slater, 1998;Cook et al, 2004). These whistles are produced when groups of dolphins meet and join at sea (Quick and Janik, 2012), when individuals are separated from their group (Janik and Slater, 1998) and when mother-calf pairs are separated (Smolker et al, 1993). Furthermore, whistles may serve as indicators of stress as their parameters change in response to a variety of stressors (Esch et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The metabolic cost of communicative sound production in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

Noren

Holt

Dunkin

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYBottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) produce various communicative sounds that are important for social behavior, maintaining group cohesion and coordinating foraging. For example, whistle production increases during disturbances, such as separations of mother-calf pairs and vessel approaches. It is clear that acoustic communication is important to the survival of these marine mammals, yet the metabolic cost of producing whistles and other socials sounds and the energetic consequences of modifying these sounds in response to both natural and anthropogenic disturbance are unknown. We used flow-through respirometry to determine whether the metabolic cost of sound production could be quantified in two captive dolphins producing social sounds (whistles and squawks). On average, we found that metabolic rates measured during 2min periods of sound production were 1.2 times resting values. Up to 7min were required for metabolism to return to resting values following vocal periods. The total metabolic cost (over resting values) of the 2min vocal period plus the required recovery period (163.3 to 2995.9mlO 2 or 3279.6 to 60,166.7J) varied by individual as well as by mean duration of sounds produced within the vocal period. Observed variation in received cumulative sound energy levels of vocalizations was not related to total metabolic costs. Furthermore, our empirical findings did not agree with previous theoretical estimates of the metabolic cost of whistles. This study provides the first empirical data on the metabolic cost of sound production in dolphins, which can be used to estimate metabolic costs of vocal responses to environmental perturbations in wild dolphins.

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“…In addition, a longer lifespan allows for stronger social bonding due to years of exposure and accumulated experiences with group members. This may explain why humans, parrots, and cetaceans (another long-lived, highly social taxon) use signature vocal "tags" to recognize individuals (e.g., Bruck, 2013;Janik & Sayigh, 2013;Quick & Janik, 2012;Saunders, 1983). This characteristic is not prevalent in shorter-lived species.…”

Section: Social Correlates Of Intelligencementioning

confidence: 99%

Where Apes and Songbirds are Left Behind: A Comparative Assessment of the Requisites for Speech

Colbert-White¹,

Corballis²,

Fragaszy³

2014

CCBR

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A handful of mammalian and avian species can imitate speech (i.e., sounds perceived by humans as those comprising the human communication system of language). Of those species, even fewer are capable of using speech to communicate. While there has been no empirical comparison of nonhuman speech users, parrots are presumed to be the most prolific. In this review, we identify several anatomical, neurological, and sociobiological features shared by parrots and humans that could account for why parrots might emerge as the most advanced nonhuman speech users. Apes and temperate oscine songbirds, due to their phylogenetic similarity to humans and parrots, respectively, are also included in the comparison. We argue that while all four taxa share hemispheric asymmetry of communication areas and basic sociality, humans and parrots share three additional features that are not completely present in apes and songbirds. Specifically, apes, unlike songbirds, parrots, and humans, are not considered vocal learners and do not have sufficient respiratory control to support a speech stream, while parrots, humans, and apes demonstrate complex affiliative social behavior. Along with the above anatomical, neurological, and sociobiological traits, parrots' affiliative long-term relationships, similar to that of humans, may help explain both groups' ability to produce and use a wide variety of sounds. Thus, this paper extends parrot-human cognitive comparisons by introducing another similarity-that of complex affiliative relationships-as a possible explanation for why parrots can produce and use speech to communicate.

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Bottlenose dolphins exchange signature whistles when meeting at sea

Cited by 98 publications

References 40 publications

Changes in bottlenose dolphin whistle parameters related to vessel presence, surface behaviour and group composition

Changes in bottlenose dolphin whistle parameters related to vessel presence, surface behaviour and group composition

The metabolic cost of communicative sound production in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

Where Apes and Songbirds are Left Behind: A Comparative Assessment of the Requisites for Speech

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