Social laterality in wild beluga whale infants: comparisons between locations, escort conditions, and ages

Karenina, Karina; Giljov, Andrey; Глазов, Д. М.; Malashichev, Yegor

doi:10.1007/s00265-013-1545-2

Cited by 32 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Findings in Karenina et al, 2017 demonstrates that lateralization regarding spatial position near the mother in young occurs in a diverse range of vertebrate species [ 11 ]. Other mother/calf cetacean lateralization studies have been presented for beluga whales [ 13 , 14 ] and killer whales [ 15 , 16 ] with similar findings; these studies showed that social behaviors correspond to the right brain hemisphere and foraging behavior corresponds to the left brain hemisphere. Findings from a laterality study conducted on adult wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops aduncus ) found that during inquisitive approaches to a human observer (diver), the dolphin used the left eye significantly more frequently than the right eye, and rubbing was conducted significantly more frequently with the left flipper than with the right flipper [ 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 67%

“…A previous study on laterality of beluga whale mother/calf pairs [ 13 ] found significant behavioral laterality where beluga calves swam or rested on the right side of the mother and for significantly longer periods than on the left side. Karenina et al (2013b) [ 15 ] found laterality bias in killer whale mother infant pairs in travelling whales, with a group-wide preference for the calf on the mother’s right side when animals were further from the observation vessel, congruent with findings from beluga studies [ 13 , 14 ]). Overall, during avoidance situations, the killer whale calf tended to be on the left, and more often on the right during socializing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

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A Note on Suckling Behavior and Laterality in Nursing Humpback Whale Calves from Underwater Observations

Zoidis¹,

Lomac-MacNair²

2017

Animals

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Simple SummaryNursing in large baleen whales and specifically the humpback whale is not well documented and difficult to capture in real time. Using underwater video documentation techniques, we collected digital video footage of humpback whale nursing events. From this, we provide an enhanced descriptive account of humpback whale suckling and recorded milk in the water near a nursing mother and calf column for the first time. As part of our investigation into nursing behaviors, we assessed if humpback calves demonstrated any patterns of laterality during nursing events. A pattern of laterality was noted in that all suckling events had a right side bias. Nursing bouts were short and intermittent, which coincides with what is known of larger terrestrial mammals such as the African elephant and other baleen whales. These shorter nursing periods are likely are due to the energetics of baleen whale milk coupled with the calf′s short respiration cycle before it has to return to the surface to breathe. Our study shows that underwater observations in marine mammal science provide valuable insight into real time events not easily accessible from vessel or aerial platforms.AbstractWe investigated nursing behavior on the Hawaiian breeding grounds for first year humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) calves. We observed and video-documented underwater events with nursing behavior from five different whale groups. The observed nursing events include behaviors where a calf positions itself at a 30–45° angle to the midline of the mother’s body, with its mouth touching her mammary slit (i.e., suckling position). On two occasions, milk in the water column was recorded in close proximity to a mother/calf pair, and on one occasion, milk was recorded 2.5 min after suckling observed. Nursing events, where the calf was located in the suckling position, were found to be short in duration with a mean of 30.6 s (range 15.0–55.0, standard deviation (SD) = 16.9). All observations of the calf in the suckling position (n = 5, 100%) were with the calf located on the right side of the mother, suggesting a potential for right side laterality preference in the context of nursing behavior. Our study provides insight into mother/calf behaviors from a unique underwater vantage. Results supplement previous accounts of humpback whale nursing in Hawaiian waters, validate mother/calf positioning, document milk in the water column, and introduce the potential for laterality in nursing behavior for humpback whale calves.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

A Note on Suckling Behavior and Laterality in Nursing Humpback Whale Calves from Underwater Observations

Zoidis¹,

Lomac-MacNair²

2017

Animals

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“…For example, socio-sexual presentations involved (a) a lateral swim with the ventral side presented to the receiving animal, that was (b) paired with an upright presentation of the surface-facing pectoral fin by the initiating animal, and sometimes followed by (c) a horizontal/lateral S-posture that may be held for one to three seconds, that typically (d) transformed into a pelvic thrust of the genitals towards the receiving animal (with or without contact, Figure 1). Preliminary evidence suggests that this sequence may be lateralized with a left pectoral fin positioned up toward the water surface, possibly facilitating the initiator's left-eye processing of the receiver's reciprocal social response (e.g., Karenina et al, 2010;Karenina, Giljov, Glazov, & Malashichev, 2013).…”

Section: Beluga Socio-sexual Repertoirementioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a Catalog of Socio-Sexual Behaviors of Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in the Care of Humans

Hill¹,

Dietrich²,

Yeater³

et al. 2015

AB&C

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-The repertoire of socio-sexual and sexual behaviors of cetaceans is relatively unknown. The purpose of the current study was to advance the existing knowledge of socio-sexual behavior of beluga whales through the development of a behavioral catalog that lists the full repertoire of sexual and socio-sexual behaviors. A behavioral catalog was developed initially from 800 hours of observations, collected across a 7-year period from 11 belugas ranging in age (birth to 30+ years), sex, and social groupings. Using this behavioral catalog, observations of eight additional belugas housed between two other facilities were coded for socio-sexual and sexual behaviors. Sociosexual and sexual behaviors of belugas were similar across all three facilities. Socio-sexual and sexual behaviors involved sequenced behaviors, had lateralized components, and were often subtle in nature. Some of these behaviors overlapped with potentially aggressive actions but showed distinct differences in their form, or topography. Complexity and duration of socio-sexual interactions varied depending on the age and sex of the participating belugas. The development of a complete behavioral catalog, or ethogram, of the socio-sexual and sexual behaviors has profound influences on understanding the mechanisms involved for successful reproduction, a problem that several groups of belugas in their natural habitat are currently facing.Keywords -Beluga, Socio-sexual behavior, Sexual behavior, Behavioral repertoire, Delphinapterus leucas Socio-sexual behavior has been studied in terms of reproductive success, copulation, and courtship. Reproductive success and copulation rates are relatively easy to identify if the definition includes documenting pregnancies, births, and intromission attempts between sexually-mature and receptive individuals. These behaviors, which are directly related to conception or involve direct stimulation of genitalia, can be defined with the term sexual (Campbell, 2007;Connor, Read, & Wrangham, 2000;Connor, Wells, Mann, & Read, 2000). In comparison, socio-sexual behavior includes behaviors that may not be directly involved in conception but may be used for other social purposes, such as developing and maintaining relationships between individuals or courtship (Campbell, 2007;Connor, Wells, et al., 2000). Courtship has traditionally been defined as the innate set of behaviors performed prior to copulation (Lorenz, 1958;Tinbergen, 1952). More recently, the definition of courtship has been expanded to include both elicited innate and emitted learned stereotyped behaviors that draw the attention of potential mates (reviewed by Freeberg, 2000). Hill et al. 106A review of general research on animal behavior indicated that sexual and socio-sexual interactions were the least studied area of research (27% of articles reviewed, Hill, Artz, & Lopez, 2014). Most studies of socio-sexual and sexual interactions have been conducted primarily with fish, amphibians, and invertebrates in laboratory settings. The sexual and socio-sexual behav...

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“…The left‐cradling bias in mother–infant relationships has recently been expanded to a diverse range of mammals, especially in species moving in co‐directed positions, where individuals are side‐by‐side on parallel paths. For example, offspring of the feral horse, Pacific walrus, Siberian tundra reindeer, saiga antelope, muskox, eastern grey kangaroo, red kangaroo, sheep, orca and beluga whale are more often on the right side of their mothers than on the left (Giljov et al, ; Karenina, Giljov, Glazov, & Malashichev, ; Karenina et al, ; Karenina, Giljov, Ivkovich, Burdin, & Malashichev, ; Versace, Morgante, Pulina, & Vallortigara, ). Researchers consider that infants take the initiative in positioning in situations such as rest or slow movement, and prefer to view their mothers using the left eye.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lateral position preference in grazing feral horses

et al. 2019

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Behavioural lateralisation is an effective way for animals to manage daily tasks by specialising behaviour to either side of the body. Many types of lateralisation are linked to the function of each brain hemisphere. Lateralisation of monitoring behaviour in mother–infant relationships occurs in a wide range of mammals, where infants frequently use their left eye to monitor their mother. However, few studies have focused on this type of spatial relationships among adults in daily life, such as during foraging. The present study focused on monitoring adult feral horse behaviour using quantitative analysis of spatial relationships, using drone technology. We found that horses form a localised spatial relationship with their nearest neighbour. Specifically, the nearest neighbour was located to the left rear of a target individual significantly more frequently than to the right rear. Furthermore, the nearest neighbour was less frequently located behind a target individual. We propose that this relationship is caused by a left‐eye preference, because information via the left eye predominantly proceeds to the right hemisphere, which is dominant for social processing.

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Social laterality in wild beluga whale infants: comparisons between locations, escort conditions, and ages

Cited by 32 publications

References 67 publications

A Note on Suckling Behavior and Laterality in Nursing Humpback Whale Calves from Underwater Observations

A Note on Suckling Behavior and Laterality in Nursing Humpback Whale Calves from Underwater Observations

Developing a Catalog of Socio-Sexual Behaviors of Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in the Care of Humans

Lateral position preference in grazing feral horses

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