Male Dolphins Whistle to Maintain Key Social Relationships
Published:01 Apr.2022 Source:University of Bristol
Allied male bottlenose dolphins maintain weaker yet vital social relationships with whistle exchanges, researchers at the University of Bristol have found.
While male dolphins are known to use physical contact such as gentle petting to connect with strongly bonded allies, new findings published in Current Biology today, show they rely on less time-demanding vocal exchanges to remain connected with weaker allies. The scientists, with colleagues from an international suite of universities, used nine years of acoustic and behavioural data from a dolphin population in Shark Bay, Western Australia, to assess how male dolphins reinforced and maintained their valuable alliances.