Responses of Kamchatkan fish‐eating killer whales to playbacks of conspecific calls

Abstract

Killer whales produce repertoires of stereotyped call types that are primarily transmitted vertically through social learning, leading to dialects between sympatric pods. The potential function of these call repertoires remains untested. In this study, we compared the reaction of Kamchatkan fish‐eating killer whales to the playbacks of calls from the same and different pods. After the playback of recordings from a different pod, in three cases whales changed the direction of their movement toward the boat, and in three cases no changes in direction were observed. After the playback of recordings from the same pod (either from the same or a different unit within the pod), in seven cases whales changed the direction of their movement toward the boat, and in only one case no change in direction was observed. Whales remained silent after all six playbacks of recordings from a different pod, even when they changed direction toward the boat. After the playback of recordings from the same pod, however, in all eight cases whales started calling in response. Our playback study shows that killer whales may react to playbacks of conspecific sounds and that reactions are dependent on the type of playback stimuli.

Potential Masking of the Baltic Grey Seal Vocalisations by Underwater Shipping Noise in the Lithuanian Area of the Baltic Sea

“…where TL is noise transmission loss, R is distance from the noise source (Filatova and Fedutin, 2011). The signal to noise ratio is an important issue whilst examining the masking potential of animal vocalisations.…”

Evidence for vocal learning in juvenile male killer whales,Orcinus orca, from an adventitious cross-socializing experiment

“…Where drift in call features occurs, it seems to happen at the level of matrilines or groups of related matrilines called pods (Miller et al, 2004;Deecke et al, 2010). Playback experiments with groups of killer whales off Kamchatka found that the whales matched calls of pod members but not calls from different pods (Filatova et al, 2011). It is possible the killer whales are also capable of matching calls at the level of regional clans (Weiß et al, 2011).…”

“…The evidence for bottlenose dolphin vocal learning is strong thanks to experimental tests on individuals under free-ranging, semicontrolled and controlled conditions. Similar experimental tests are needed in killer whales, but only one experimental study has exposed groups to short-term playback of calls under free-ranging conditions (Filatova et al, 2011). However, individuals can be exposed to different dialects in adventitious cross-fostering and cross-socializing experiments when killer whales from different vocal traditions are housed together in oceanaria (Bain, 1986).…”

“…The prevailing model for dialect development and persistence may be described as follows: young killer whales develop their dialect through vertical production learning (Janik and Slater, 1997;Janik and Slater, 2000); and the dialect is maintained by strong motivation to match calls, i.e. to emit calls similar to those of other group members in social exchanges (Deecke et al, 2000;Miller and Bain, 2000;Grebner et al, 2011;Filatova et al, 2011). However, use of calls by individuals is still poorly understood.…”

Bubble Stream Production by Belugas (Delphinapterus leucas)

“…Several studies have suggested that a subset of these whistles may serve as contact calls. Contact calls are known from bottlenose dolphins (Janik and Slater 1998), and elements of the killer whale dialect are used in the context of maintaining contact (Filatova et al 2011). In bottlenose dolphins, for which the evidence of contact function is strongest (Janik and Slater 1998), whistles promote group cohesion and reunions after separation (Janik and Slater 1998, Shapiro 2006, Sayigh et al 2007, Harley 2008, Quick et al 2012.…”