Group items tagged

A group of female dolphins has been learning from their mothers to use sponges to help catch fish for at least 180 years, a UNSW study has found.

A photographer slips into the ocean to swim amoung hundreds of sperm whales - witnessing a rarely seen social spectacle.

Sperm whale's skin comes off during mass 'scratchathon'.

JULY 31, 2012 - GEORGETOWN RESEARCHERS HAVE DISCOVERED that bottlenose dolphins are the only mammals besides humans to associate with one another based on cultural behavior with tools.

Octopuses are generally loners. Squids often form schools. But cuttlefish (or seacuttles if you will)…they outright just don't get along with one another. In the video below two Giant Australian Cuttlefish males that are bit cranky fight over a female. They are both flashing the characteristic Zebra "Don't F**K With Me" pattern. Make sure you watch after 2 minutes when they really throw down.

Octopuses are generally loners. Squids often form schools. But cuttlefish (or seacuttles if you will)…they outright just don't get along with one another. In the video below two Giant Australian Cuttlefish males that are bit cranky fight over a female. They are both flashing the characteristic Zebra "Don't F**K With Me" pattern. Make sure you watch after 2 minutes when they really throw down.

Ongoing research of a dolphin population in south-western Australia has revealed for the first time, a unique cycle in social bonds between adult female bottlenose dolphins, which is leading to informed conservation for the animals.

Ongoing research of a dolphin population in south-western Australia has revealed for the first time, a unique cycle in social bonds between adult female bottlenose dolphins, which is leading to informed conservation for the animals.

Mysterious Blue Whale Behavior Likely Filmed for First Time.

Researchers from The University of Western Australia have discovered male bottlenose dolphins can retain individual vocal labels, or "names", to help recognise friends and rivals in their social network, much like humans.

Humpback dolphins offer gifts in rare courtship ritual - video.

Orcas live in stable, structured social groups. And their survival directly depends on it, as a CNRS and University of La Rochelle research team1 has just demonstrated. Between 1996 and 2002, half of the CROZET Islands orca population was killed off by an illegal fishing operation targeting Patagonian toothfish, with the orcas removing the fish from the line during hauling. The orcas' survival rate has yet to return to its former level. Using data from a photo-identification programme begun in 1987, the scientists were able to show that surviving orcas from a decimated family adopted "erratic" social behaviour, moving from group to group. The weaker these social ties, the greater the animals' likelihood of dying. As these orcas are probably not completely accepted by the new groups they join, they are likely to be given less access to food than the regular members of the social unit-and eventually die. These findings-published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (20 May 2019)-are the first to reveal the long-term consequences of events affecting the survival and social organization of a mammalian species.

Dolphins choose childhood friends that set them up for success as adults.

Long-thought to be a unique characteristic of human societies, researchers now say some dolphins can actually form multiple levels of alliances among their societies.

Adult male sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are long distance runners of the marine realm, feeding in high latitudes and mating in tropical and subtropical waters where stable social groups of females and immatures live. Several areas of uncertainty still limit our understanding of their social and breeding behavior, in particular concerning the potential existence of geographical and/or social fidelities. In this study, using underwater observation and sloughed-skin sampling, we looked for male social fidelity to a specific matrilineal sperm whale group near Mauritius. In addition, we captured a wider picture of kin relationships and genetic diversity of male sperm whales in the Indian Ocean thanks to biopsies of eight individuals taken in a feeding ground near the Kerguelen and Crozet Archipelagos (Southern Indian Ocean). Twenty-six adult male sperm whales were identified when socializing with adult females and immatures off Mauritius. Sloughed-skin samples were taken from thirteen of them for genetic analysis. Long-term underwater observation recorded several noteworthy social interactions between adult males and adult females and/or immatures. We identified seven possible male recaptures over different years (three by direct observation, and four at the gametic level), which supports a certain level of male social fidelity. Two probable first- and thirty second-degree kin relationships were highlighted between members of the social unit and adult males, confirming that some of the adult males observed in Mauritian waters are reproductive. Male social philopatry to their natal group can be excluded, as none of the males sampled shared the haplotype characteristic of the matrilineal social group. Mitochondrial DNA control region haplotype and nucleotide diversities calculated over the 21 total male sperm whales sampled were similar to values found by others in the Indian Ocean. Our study strongly supports the existence of some levels of male sperm whale socia