Cultural transmission of tool use by Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiopssp.) provides access to a novel foraging niche

Abstract

Culturally transmitted tool use has important ecological and evolutionary consequences and has been proposed as a significant driver of human evolution. Such evidence is still scarce in other animals. In cetaceans, tool use has been inferred using indirect evidence in one population of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.), where particular dolphins ('spongers') use marine sponges during foraging. To date, evidence of whether this foraging tactic actually provides access to novel food items is lacking. We used fatty acid (FA) signature analysis to identify dietary differences between spongers and non-spongers, analysing data from 11 spongers and 27 non-spongers from two different study sites. Both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed significant differences in FA profiles between spongers and non-spongers between and within study sites. Moreover, FA profiles differed significantly between spongers and non-spongers foraging within the same deep channel habitat, whereas the profiles of non-spongers from deep channel and shallow habitats at this site could not be distinguished. Our results indicate that sponge use by bottlenose dolphins is linked to significant differences in diet. It appears that cultural transmission of tool use in dolphins, as in humans, allows the exploitation of an otherwise unused niche.

False killer whales and fisheries interactions in Hawaiian waters: Evidence for sex bias and variation among populations and social groups

“…This could reflect differences in where the different social groups spend their time and/or that depredation behavior may be culturally acquired within social groups, as are other types of foraging behaviors (Sargeant and Mann , Krützen et al . ). Satellite tag data are available from 18 different groups of Cluster 1 individuals, but only six different groups of Cluster 3 individuals and no Cluster 2 individuals (Baird et al .…”

Preliminary estimates of the abundance and fidelity of dolphins associating with a demersal trawl fishery

“…It can be inferred from these data that at least some individuals also show fidelity to foraging behind trawlers over months to years. Resident communities of bottlenose dolphins (both T. truncatus and T. aduncus ) are known to develop foraging traditions over years and between multiple generations 52, 53 , sometimes in association with trawl fisheries 54 . Many coastal bottlenose dolphin populations (again, both Tursiops spp.)…”

Organicitatea științei

“…Printre altele, au fost studiate insecte precum albinele (Buchmann & Reppelier, 2006;Winston, 2014) și furnicile (Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990;Rico-Gray & Oliveira, 2007;Keller & Gordon, 2009;Hölldobler & Wilson, 2009;Gordon, 2010), moluștele-atît gasteropode, cît mai ales cefalopode (Hochner et al, 2006;Wollsen et al, 2009;Alves et al, 2013), amfibieni, pești 35 , reptile precum șopîrlele și șerpii, păsări precum ciocănitorile (Tebbich et al, 2001), gaițele (Clayton, 2007;Emery & Clayton, 2008;Watanabe et al, 2014), ciorile (Hunt, 1996;Hunt & Gray, 2003a;Hunt & Gray, 2003b;Taylor et al, 2012) și papagalii (Auersperg et al, 2012;, mamifere precum elefanții (Moss, 1988), cetaceele Krützen et al, 2014), caniforme, feliforme, rozătoare și, desigur, primate superioare (cimpanzeii, gorilele, urangutanii) și inferioare (macacii, babuinii, lemurienii) (Goodall, 1964;deVore, 1965;Nishida, 1968;Premack, 1971;Fouts, 1973;Terrace, 1979;Patterson & Linden, 1981;Savage-Rumbaugh et al, 1985;Savage-Rumbaugh et al, 1986;Wallman, 1992;McGrew, 1992;Parker & Gibson, 1990;Savage-Rumbaugh & Fields, 2000;van Schaik & Knott, 2001; Ladygina-Kohts & de Waal, 2002;de Waal, 2006;…”