Shark Bay Bottlenose Dolphins: A Case Study for Defi ning and Measuring Sociality

Do sampling method and sample size affect basic measures of dolphin sociality?

Although the fission–fusion social patterns of bottlenose dolphins have been described, defining and measuring sociality is difficult. No study to date has investigated how much data are necessary to accurately depict social patterns in a fission–fusion species and whether this amount differs depending on the measure used. Using the long-term Shark Bay bottlenose dolphin study we examined four ...

Characterizing the socially transmitted foraging tactic sponging by bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in the western gulf of Shark Bay, Western Australia

Individual foraging tactics are widespread in animals and have ecological and evolutionary implications. Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in Shark Bay, Western Australia, exhibit a foraging tactic involving tool use, called “sponging.” Sponging is vertically, socially transmitted through the matriline and, to date, has been described in detail in the eastern gulf of Shark Bay (ES...

Why do Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) carry conch shells (Turbinella sp.) in Shark Bay, Western Australia?

A new level of complexity in the male alliance networks of Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.).

Male bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia form two levels of alliances; two to three males cooperate to herd individual females and teams of greater than three males compete with other groups for females. Previous observation suggested two alliance tactics: small four to six member teams of relatives that formed stable pairs or trios and unrelated males in a large 14-member secon...

Cultural transmission of tool use combined with habitat specializations leads to fine-scale genetic structure in bottlenose dolphins.

Socially learned behaviours leading to genetic population structure have rarely been described outside humans. Here, we provide evidence of fine-scale genetic structure that has probably arisen based on socially transmitted behaviours in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in western Shark Bay, Western Australia. We argue that vertical social transmission in different habitats has led to signifi...