The Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus)

Age‐related changes to the speckle patterns on wild Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphins

“…Older adults were estimated to be over 35 years of age. The maximum life span of the Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphin is 40–50 years (Connor et al, 2019; Wang, 2018). Accordingly, the speckles continued to increase with age after 26 years and may increase throughout their life span.…”

“…Females initially gave birth at 12–15 years old, and calves were typically weaned at 2.7–8.0 years old in Shark Bay (Mann et al, 2000). At Mikura, the mean age of the initial birth by a female was 10.3 years (range = 7–13 years) and the dolphins were weaned at 3.5 years (range = 3–6 years) (Connor et al, 2019; Kogi, 2013). Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphins in South Australia reached physical maturity when males were 208–238 cm long and females were 195–233 cm (Kemper et al, 2014, 2019).…”

“…Older adults were estimated to be over 35 years of age. The maximum life span of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin is 40-50 years (Connor et al, 2019;Wang, 2018).…”

“…and the dolphins were weaned at 3.5 years (range = 3-6 years) (Connor et al, 2019;Kogi, 2013). Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in South Australia reached physical maturity when males were 208-238 cm long and females were 195-233 cm (Kemper et al, 2014(Kemper et al, , 2019.…”

“…Longitudinal observation of identified individuals is the main method used to obtain individual ages and the age composition of these population. For example, Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops aduncus ) surveys have been conducted for more than 26 years around Mikura Island, Japan (Kogi, 2013), and have continued for more than 35 years in Shark Bay, Australia (Connor et al, 2019). However, acquiring the age composition of a population is expensive and time consuming because cetaceans have a long lifespan.…”