A 1.5-hour recording of six (Gulf of Mexico) captive common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at Sea Life Park, Hawaii shows that: 1) they have a song of a sequence of tonal (often slurred) notes. The evidence ...A 1.5-hour recording of six (Gulf of Mexico) captive common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at Sea Life Park, Hawaii shows that: 1) they have a song of a sequence of tonal (often slurred) notes. The evidence for their song comes from: a) their emitting songs that were complex (both tonally and rhythmically), b) their likely improvising (as inferred from their most complex songs not being repeated), c) songs based on a theme (used repeatedly), d) a bout of singing (at times) including social creativity, e) songs with a distinct beginning, middle and end section, and f) one song consisting of in part, a theme, 2) their songs are not sung in key (as determined from analysing the beginning tonal value of a note with spectral-frequency analysis), and 3) are sung in bouts, and 4) mostly with tonal-striated vocalizations (in the literature termed squawks and bray calls). Their apparent creativity (likely improvisations) and social creativity are of importance to how they evolved cognitively, to the study of song culture (between populations and delphinid species), understanding their (intra and inter-species) associations, and kinds of relationships, determining individual personalities, and perhaps will provide supporting evidence for their ability to reason. As inferred, they sing without being intentionally manipulative from: 1) their use of Gquic psychology [1] (as explained in this article), and 2) as inferred from their likely having an ability to reason [1] [2] (as deduced from their behavioural ecology (their unique exceptional evolutionary freedom), including their comparatively peaceful composure between conspecifics, in line with the proof of The Peaceful Composure Theorem), suggesting (per The Peaceful Composure Theorem) they have an egalitarian-like society. Their interspecies (displaced) aggression towards smaller odontocete species is shown to be a function of jealousies that emerge from their stronger social bonds than other species, from their compassionate nature, and females and males not pairing up in long-term associations. Species with greater cultural freedom are shown to have a more complex song providing further evidence for species culture not crucial to survival. The conclusive evidence for specie culture from my recent publications is of relevance to the scientific community’s acceptance of two new theories of evolution, and Gquic psychology. The loud burst-pulse sounds, chasing, charging and raking behaviours described in the literature could be a play behaviour, ought not be labelled as aggressive behaviours, as inferred from dog mock-fight play behaviour. In regard to future comparative behavioural ecology studies, aggressive animal behaviour should only be defined as an act of displacement (that is shown to commonly occur in the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin species (Tursiops aduncus)), or as acts of biting, and hitting.展开更多
The extent to which prey abundance influences both bottlenose dolphin foraging behavior and group size in the presence of human activities has not previously been studied.The primary aim of this study was to identify ...The extent to which prey abundance influences both bottlenose dolphin foraging behavior and group size in the presence of human activities has not previously been studied.The primary aim of this study was to identify and quantify how wild bottlenose dolphins respond,individually and as groups,to the relative abundance of prey around a fish farm.Detailed views of dolphins' behavior were obtained by focal following individual animals whilst simultaneously collecting surface and underwater behavioral data.A total of 2150 dive intervals were analyzed,corresponding to 342 focal samples,lasting over 34 hours.Bottlenose dolphins remained submerged for a mean duration of 46.4 seconds and a maximum of 249 seconds.This study provides the first quantified data on bottlenose dolphin diving behavior in a marine fin-fish farm area.This study's results indicate that within a fish farm area used intensively by bottlenose dolphins for feeding,dolphins did not modify dive duration.Additionally,underwater observations confirmed that dolphins find it easier to exploit a concentrated food source and it appears that hunting tactic and not group size plays an important role during feeding activities.Thus,bottlenose dolphins appear capable of modifying their hunting tactics according to the abundance of prey.When top predators display behavioral responses to activities not directed at them,the task of studying all possible effects of human activities can become even more challenging.展开更多
A method based on syntactic pattern recognition was presented to automatically classify whistles of bottlenose dolphin. Dolphin whistles have typically been characterized in terms of their instantaneous frequency as a...A method based on syntactic pattern recognition was presented to automatically classify whistles of bottlenose dolphin. Dolphin whistles have typically been characterized in terms of their instantaneous frequency as a function of time, which is also known as ＂whistle contour＂. The frequency variation features of a whistle were extracted according to its contour. Then, the frequency variation features were used for learning grammatical patterns. A whistle was classified according to grammatical pattern of its frequency variation features. The exper- imental results showed that the classification accuracy of the proposed method was 95%. The method can provide technical support for acoustic study of dolphins＇ biological behavior.展开更多
Accurate estimations of animal population size are pivotal for implementing management strategies properly.Recapture technique based on sounds as a specimen identifcation mark has barely been used for marine mammals.H...Accurate estimations of animal population size are pivotal for implementing management strategies properly.Recapture technique based on sounds as a specimen identifcation mark has barely been used for marine mammals.However,inferring abundance estimates from acoustic methods could enhance the accuracy and precision of population size assessments.Here,we tested the possibility of using signature whistles as individual marks for estimating the size of common bottlenose dolphin(Tursiops truncatus)populations.Data were continuously collected for 326 days in 2015–2016,by using a fxed acoustic device located in the Sicily Strait(Italy).The SIGID method was applied to identify Signature Whistles Types(SWTs)over 7,000 h of recordings.Eighty SWTs were detected as long as their stereotyped fundamental frequency contours were repeated in bouts of at least 6 renditions.The mean SWTs monthly recording rate resulted in 0.19(Standard deviation=0.16),with 20 SWTs recorded over 5 or more different encounters(until a maximum of 30 encounters).The Jolly–Seber model(with POPAN formulation)was run in Mark software to estimate the population size.The estimated population size resulted in 171 bottlenose dolphins(95%confdence interval=137–215).Even if the detection and identifcation of signature whistles required crucial precautions,and animals could be detected differently from visual techniques,the population size estimate obtained was comparable with previous results based on physical marks data.These outcomes demonstrated that signature whistles can be considered a strongly effective tool for integrating traditional mark-recapture techniques with fnely estimated dolphins’population abundances.展开更多
文摘A 1.5-hour recording of six (Gulf of Mexico) captive common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at Sea Life Park, Hawaii shows that: 1) they have a song of a sequence of tonal (often slurred) notes. The evidence for their song comes from: a) their emitting songs that were complex (both tonally and rhythmically), b) their likely improvising (as inferred from their most complex songs not being repeated), c) songs based on a theme (used repeatedly), d) a bout of singing (at times) including social creativity, e) songs with a distinct beginning, middle and end section, and f) one song consisting of in part, a theme, 2) their songs are not sung in key (as determined from analysing the beginning tonal value of a note with spectral-frequency analysis), and 3) are sung in bouts, and 4) mostly with tonal-striated vocalizations (in the literature termed squawks and bray calls). Their apparent creativity (likely improvisations) and social creativity are of importance to how they evolved cognitively, to the study of song culture (between populations and delphinid species), understanding their (intra and inter-species) associations, and kinds of relationships, determining individual personalities, and perhaps will provide supporting evidence for their ability to reason. As inferred, they sing without being intentionally manipulative from: 1) their use of Gquic psychology [1] (as explained in this article), and 2) as inferred from their likely having an ability to reason [1] [2] (as deduced from their behavioural ecology (their unique exceptional evolutionary freedom), including their comparatively peaceful composure between conspecifics, in line with the proof of The Peaceful Composure Theorem), suggesting (per The Peaceful Composure Theorem) they have an egalitarian-like society. Their interspecies (displaced) aggression towards smaller odontocete species is shown to be a function of jealousies that emerge from their stronger social bonds than other species, from their compassionate nature, and females and males not pairing up in long-term associations. Species with greater cultural freedom are shown to have a more complex song providing further evidence for species culture not crucial to survival. The conclusive evidence for specie culture from my recent publications is of relevance to the scientific community’s acceptance of two new theories of evolution, and Gquic psychology. The loud burst-pulse sounds, chasing, charging and raking behaviours described in the literature could be a play behaviour, ought not be labelled as aggressive behaviours, as inferred from dog mock-fight play behaviour. In regard to future comparative behavioural ecology studies, aggressive animal behaviour should only be defined as an act of displacement (that is shown to commonly occur in the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin species (Tursiops aduncus)), or as acts of biting, and hitting.
基金Funding for this research came from the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute-BDRI and private donations
文摘The extent to which prey abundance influences both bottlenose dolphin foraging behavior and group size in the presence of human activities has not previously been studied.The primary aim of this study was to identify and quantify how wild bottlenose dolphins respond,individually and as groups,to the relative abundance of prey around a fish farm.Detailed views of dolphins' behavior were obtained by focal following individual animals whilst simultaneously collecting surface and underwater behavioral data.A total of 2150 dive intervals were analyzed,corresponding to 342 focal samples,lasting over 34 hours.Bottlenose dolphins remained submerged for a mean duration of 46.4 seconds and a maximum of 249 seconds.This study provides the first quantified data on bottlenose dolphin diving behavior in a marine fin-fish farm area.This study's results indicate that within a fish farm area used intensively by bottlenose dolphins for feeding,dolphins did not modify dive duration.Additionally,underwater observations confirmed that dolphins find it easier to exploit a concentrated food source and it appears that hunting tactic and not group size plays an important role during feeding activities.Thus,bottlenose dolphins appear capable of modifying their hunting tactics according to the abundance of prey.When top predators display behavioral responses to activities not directed at them,the task of studying all possible effects of human activities can become even more challenging.
文摘A method based on syntactic pattern recognition was presented to automatically classify whistles of bottlenose dolphin. Dolphin whistles have typically been characterized in terms of their instantaneous frequency as a function of time, which is also known as ＂whistle contour＂. The frequency variation features of a whistle were extracted according to its contour. Then, the frequency variation features were used for learning grammatical patterns. A whistle was classified according to grammatical pattern of its frequency variation features. The exper- imental results showed that the classification accuracy of the proposed method was 95%. The method can provide technical support for acoustic study of dolphins＇ biological behavior.
基金the project“BIOforIU project PONa3_00025-Multidisciplinary Infrastructure for the Study and Development of Marine and Terrestrial Biodiversity in the Perspective of Innovation Union.”Part of the analysis was funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan(NRRP),Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.4-Call for tender No.3138 of 16 December 2021,rectifed by Decree n.3175 of 18 December 2021 of Italian Ministry of University and Research funded by the European Union-NextGenerationEU,Award Number:Project code CN_00000033,Concession Decree No.1034 of 17 June 2022 adopted by the Italian Ministry of University and Research,Project title"National Biodiversity Future Center-NBFC".
文摘Accurate estimations of animal population size are pivotal for implementing management strategies properly.Recapture technique based on sounds as a specimen identifcation mark has barely been used for marine mammals.However,inferring abundance estimates from acoustic methods could enhance the accuracy and precision of population size assessments.Here,we tested the possibility of using signature whistles as individual marks for estimating the size of common bottlenose dolphin(Tursiops truncatus)populations.Data were continuously collected for 326 days in 2015–2016,by using a fxed acoustic device located in the Sicily Strait(Italy).The SIGID method was applied to identify Signature Whistles Types(SWTs)over 7,000 h of recordings.Eighty SWTs were detected as long as their stereotyped fundamental frequency contours were repeated in bouts of at least 6 renditions.The mean SWTs monthly recording rate resulted in 0.19(Standard deviation=0.16),with 20 SWTs recorded over 5 or more different encounters(until a maximum of 30 encounters).The Jolly–Seber model(with POPAN formulation)was run in Mark software to estimate the population size.The estimated population size resulted in 171 bottlenose dolphins(95%confdence interval=137–215).Even if the detection and identifcation of signature whistles required crucial precautions,and animals could be detected differently from visual techniques,the population size estimate obtained was comparable with previous results based on physical marks data.These outcomes demonstrated that signature whistles can be considered a strongly effective tool for integrating traditional mark-recapture techniques with fnely estimated dolphins’population abundances.
