Category Archives: WSB

June 2020 – New paper on shelling transmission pathways in Current Biology

From small beginnings involving a series of photographs of an intriguing behaviour captured in our inaugural western gulf field season in 2007, followed by our first sighting of the now-famous “William the Concheror” with a shell on his beak in 2009, through thousands upon thousands of hours of fieldwork and subsequent data analysis… to this:

Full citation: Wild S, Hoppitt WJE, Allen SJ, Krützen M 2020. Integrating genetic, environmental and social networks to reveal transmission pathways of a dolphin foraging innovation. Current Biology 30: 1-7.

Check out the video abstract here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9nc3-pz7Tc&t=2s 

Get your piece of this science here: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)30756-9

Highlights: 

  • Network-based diffusion analysis revealed that ‘‘shelling’’ spreads among associates
  • Dolphin foraging innovations can spread socially outside of the mother-calf bond
  • First quantification of a non-vertically learned foraging tactic in toothed whales

In brief: Dolphins use empty gastropod shells to trap prey. Wild et al. integrate genetic, behavioural, and environmental data in a network-based diffusion analysis to show that ‘‘shelling’’ spreads socially among associates. This study provides the first quantitative evidence for non-vertical cultural transmission of foraging behaviour in toothed whales.

Summary: Cultural behaviour, which is transmitted among conspecifics through social learning, is found across various taxa. Vertical social transmission from parent to offspring is thought to be adaptive because of the parental generation being more skilled than maturing individuals. It is found throughout the animal kingdom, particularly in species with prolonged parental care. Social learning can also occur among members of the same generation or between older, non-parental individuals and younger generations via horizontal or oblique transmission, respectively. Extensive work on primate culture has shown that horizontal transmission of foraging behaviour is biased toward species with broad cultural repertoires and those with increased levels of social tolerance, such as great apes. Vertical social transmission has been established as the primary transmission mechanism of foraging behaviours in the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) population of Shark Bay, Western Australia. Here, we investigated the spread of another foraging strategy, ‘‘shelling’’, whereby some dolphins in this population feed on prey trapped inside large marine gastropod shells. Using a multi-network version of ‘‘network-based diffusion analysis’’ (NBDA), we show that shelling behaviour spreads primarily through non-vertical social transmission. By statistically accounting for both environmental and genetic influences, our findings thus represent the first evidence of non-vertical transmission of a foraging tactic in toothed whales. This research suggests there are multiple transmission pathways of foraging behaviours in dolphins, highlighting the similarities between cetaceans and great apes in the nature of the transmission of cultural behaviours.

Funding and acknowledgements: We thank Shark Bay Salt Pty Ltd and the community of Useless Loop for their logistic support, as well as all research students and volunteers who have contributed to data collection for the Dolphin Innovation Project and Shark Bay Dolphin Research (http://www.sharkbaydolphins.org). This study was supported by a Swiss National Science Foundation grant (31003A_149956), Seaworld Research & Rescue Foundation (SWRRFI) Australia, National Geographic Society, AH Schultz Stiftung, Claraz-Schenkung, Julius-Klaus Stiftung, and WV Scott Charitable Trust, all to MK.

Author contributions: MK, SJA, and SW conceived the study. SW and WJEH conducted statistical analyses. SW collected data and drafted the manuscript. MK secured funding. SJA collected data. All authors contributed to writing.

Watch this space for forthcoming findings on another of the Shark Bay dolphins’ fascinating foraging specialisations…

Nov 2019 – Tursiops aduncus coming out party!

Need a solid summary or good source of references about one of the most intriguing animals on the planet, the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin Tursiops aduncus? Then this book chapter is for you, and it’s peppered with pretty pictures for the visually aroused…

Title: The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin Tursiops aduncus

Authors: Connor RC, Sakai M, Morisaka T, Allen SJ

Abstract: The behavioral ecology of Tursiops aduncus (Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin) is usually reviewed alongside the much more widely studied T. truncatus (common bottlenose dolphin). However, the smaller, typically shallow water T. aduncus has been closely scrutinized in Australian and Japanese waters. As a result, there now exists a robust body of information spanning all three of Hinde’s levels of social analysis—interactions, relationships, and social structure—that may be unmatched in any other cetacean. Research on T. aduncus has contributed significantly to the social complexity hypothesis of large brain evolution and our understanding of delphinid mating systems, communication, and individual differences in foraging tactics within populations. Here, we focus on behavioral research at two primary sites, Shark Bay in Australia and Mikura Island in Japan, with additional observations of importance from other locales in each region.

Full citation: Connor RC, Sakai M, Morisaka T, Allen SJ 2019. The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin Tursiops aduncus. Ch16 in Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Odontocetes (ed. Würsig). Springer Nature. Pp 345-368. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-16663-2_16.

Jul 2019 – Another new paper in Animal Cognition

This week sees another paper out of our long-term research in the eastern and western gulfs of Shark Bay. It includes science AND pretty pictures!

Title: Vocal behaviour of allied male dolphins during cooperative mate guarding.

Authors: King SL, Allen SJ, Krützen M, Connor RC.

Get your piece of this open-access action right here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-019-01290-1

Abstract: Coercive mate guarding, where males use aggression to control female movements, is a form of sexual coercion which functions to constrain female mate choice. Non-human primates, for example, herd females to keep them away from competing males, but male bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) also herd females to keep them close to their alliance partners. Indeed, pairs and trios of male dolphins work together to sequester single estrus females and defend them from competing alliances. Yet how males facilitate such coordination remains unknown. Here, we investigate the vocal behaviour of allied male bottlenose dolphins during the herding of individual females, examining how the production of whistles and ‘pops’ (a threat vocalisation) varied with behavioural state and inter-animal distances. Allied males produced both whistles and pops significantly more often and at higher rates during social interactions, though they differed in function. Whistle rates increased significantly when new individuals joined the consorting group, consistent with previous work showing that whistles are part of a greeting sequence for this species. Whistle matching also appeared to play a role in within-alliance coordination. Pop vocalisations increased significantly when the nearest male to the female changed, likely inducing the female to remain close as the males coordinate a guard switch. Building upon prior research examining female movements in response to pops, we show that males approach the female and current guard whilst popping, leading to a guard switch. Our results provide new insights into the use of vocal signals during cooperative mate guarding between allied male dolphins.

Full citation: King SL, Allen SJ, Krützen M and Connor RC 2019. Vocal behaviour of allied male dolphins during cooperative mate guarding. Animal Cognition https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-019-01290-1

Ethics: Permits for the use of animals for scientific purposes were obtained from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. The University of Zurich and University of Western Australia granted animal ethics approvals.

Funding: SLK was supported by The Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science. SLK and RCC were supported by the National Geographic Society (050R-17). MK was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (31003A_149956).

Acknowledgements: We thank RAC Monkey Mia, Shark Bay rangers (Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions), Shark Bay Resources, the Useless Loop community and all field assistants for help in this study. We thank David Allen of Wolf Design Limited (www.wolfd esign ltd.co.uk) for the dolphin template in Fig. 3b. Lastly, we thank two anonymous reviewers and the handling editor for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

Jul 2019 – New paper on sponging out in Biology Letters

 

Highlights: This new research incorporates over ten years of data on dolphin behaviour, genetics and habitat use. We show how ‘sponging’ is a learned behaviour, transmitted socially between mother and (primarily female) calves. Meanwhile, habitat use and genetics do not appear to influence if a dolphin learns sponging or not. These findings build on and complement previous research, providing strong quantitative evidence for the existence of dolphin culture.

Title: Multi-network-based diffusion analysis reveals vertical cultural transmission of sponge tool use within dolphin matrilines.

Authors: Wild S, Allen SJ, Krützen M, King SL, Gerber L, Hoppitt WJE.

Abstract: Behavioural differences among social groups can arise from differing ecological conditions, genetic predispositions and/or social learning. In the past, social learning has typically been inferred as responsible for the spread of behaviour by the exclusion of ecological and genetic factors. This ‘method of exclusion’ was used to infer that ‘sponging’, a foraging behaviour involving tool use in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) population in Shark Bay, Western Australia, was socially transmitted. However, previous studies were limited in that they never fully accounted for alternative factors, and that social learning, ecology and genetics are not mutually exclusive in causing behavioural variation. Here, we quantified the importance of social learning on the diffusion of sponging, for the first time explicitly accounting for ecological and genetic factors, using a multi-network version of ‘network-based diffusion analysis’. Our results provide compelling support for previous findings that sponging is vertically socially transmitted from mother to (primarily female) offspring. This research illustrates the utility of social network analysis in elucidating the explanatory mechanisms behind the transmission of behaviour in wild animal populations.

Full citation: Wild S, Allen SJ, Krützen M, King SL, Gerber L, Hoppitt WJE. 2019 Multi-network-based diffusion analysis reveals vertical cultural transmission of sponge tool use within dolphin matrilines. Biol. Lett. 15: 20190227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0227

Ethics: Permits for the use of animals for scientific purposes were granted by the Department  of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (SF002958; SF010888; SF10388; SF002958; SF010774; 08-000920-1; 08-000706-3) and the Department of Agriculture and Food (U 10/2015-2018). The animal ethics committees of the University of Western Australia, Murdoch University and the University of Zurich provided approvals for the ethical treatment of animals in scientific research (R2649/14; RA/3/100/1449; RA/3/100/1464).

Funding: This research was funded by: Swiss National Science Foundation (31003A_149956), Seaworld Research & Rescue Foundation Inc. (SWRRFI), National Geographic Society, A.H. Schultz Stiftung, Claraz-Schenkung, Julius-Klaus Stiftung and W.V. Scott Foundation, all to M.K. S.L.K. was supported by The Branco Weiss Fellowship—Society in Science.

Acknowledgements: We thank Shark Bay Resources and the Useless Loop community for logistic support, and all researchers and volunteers who have contributed to data collection for the Dolphin Innovation Project.

Jun 2019 – Social homophily in male dolphins, new paper in Proc Roy Soc B

Blurb: The beautiful and remote Shark Bay World Heritage Area (and Marine Protected Area) is home to the only known communities of tool-using dolphins on Planet Ocean. Only certain matrilines of dolphins engage in the tool-using behaviour, wearing basket sponges over the beaks/rostra as they forage. It’s thought to act as a protective ‘glove’ against sharp rocks, stingray barbs and the dorsal spines on some fish as the dolphins probe the sea floor.

There’s a general female-bias to this behaviour, with a much greater proportion of female calves adopting the behaviour her mum performs than do young males. This difference was long thought to be explained by the incompatibility of such a solitary and time-consuming behaviour with a male lifestyle – who should instead be investing time and energy into formulating alliances with other males.

Well, after a fateful survey in the western gulf of Shark Bay in May 2011, however, we discovered the existence of male alliances of sponging dolphins. About 8 years and two weeks later, here is the paper explaining this phenomenon.

Highlights: Diving into the behaviour of male dolphins that engage in tool-use for the first time and comparing them to non-tool-using males, we found that:

  • The male spongers spend more time associating with other male spongers than they do non-spongers, irrespective of relatedness or other factors.
  • They also devote more time to foraging and less time to resting and travelling than do non-sponging males.
  • Nevertheless, they spend just as much time socialising as do non-spongers.
  • Our study indicates social homophily in the second-order alliance composition of tool-using bottlenose dolphins.

Title: Tool use and social homophily among male bottlenose dolphins.

Authors: Bizzozzero MR, Allen SJ, Gerber L, Wild S, King SL, Connor RC, Friedman WR, Wittwer S, Krützen M.

Abstract: Homophilous behaviour plays a central role in the formation of human friendships. Individuals form social ties with others that show similar phenotypic traits, independently of relatedness. Evidence of such homophily can be found in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in Shark Bay, Western Australia, where females that use marine sponges as foraging tools often associate with other females that use sponges. ‘Sponging’ is a socially learned, time-consuming behaviour, transmitted from mother to calf. Previous research illustrated a strong female bias in adopting this technique. The lower propensity for males to engage in sponging may be due to its incompatibility with adult male-specific behaviours, particularly the formation of multi-level alliances. However, the link between sponging and male behaviour has never been formally tested. Here, we show that male spongers associated significantly more often with other male spongers irrespective of their level of relatedness. Male spongers spent significantly more time foraging, and less time resting and travelling, than did male non-spongers. Interestingly, we found no difference in time spent socializing. Our study provides novel insights into the relationship between tool use and activity budgets of male dolphins, and indicates social homophily in the second-order alliance composition of tool-using bottlenose dolphins.  

Full citation: Bizzozzero MR, Allen SJ, Gerber L, Wild S, King SL, Connor RC, Friedman WR, Wittwer S, Krützen M. 2019 Tool use and social homophily among male bottlenose dolphins. Proc. R. Soc. B 286: 20190898. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0898

Funding: This study was supported by a Swiss National Science Foundation grant 31003A_149956) to M.K. Further financial assistance was provided by grants from the National Geographic Society, W. V. Scott Foundation, Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation Inc., A. H. Schultz Stiftung, and the University of Zurich. S.L.K. was supported by The Branco Weiss Fellowship—Society in Science. W.R.F. was supported by a Graduate Fellowship in Anthropogeny from the University of California, San Diego.

Acknowledgements: We thank Shark Bay Resources and the Useless Loop community for their generous, long-term, in-kind and logistical support. We also thank all field assistants for their help during this study.

May 2019 – New paper in Ecology and Evolution

Title: Is MHC diversity a better marker for conservation than neutral genetic diversity? A case study of two contrasting dolphin populations.

Authors: Manlik O, Krützen M, Kopps AM, Mann J, Bejder L, Allen SJ, Frère C, Connor RC, Sherwin WB.

Abstract: Genetic diversity is essential for populations to adapt to changing environments. Measures of genetic diversity are often based on selectively neutral markers, such as microsatellites. Genetic diversity to guide conservation management, however, is better reflected by adaptive markers, including genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Our aim was to assess MHC and neutral genetic diversity in two contrasting bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) populations in Western Australia — one apparently viable population with high reproductive output (Shark Bay) and one with lower reproductive output that was forecast to decline (Bunbury). We assessed genetic variation in the two populations by sequencing the MHC class II DQB, which encompasses the functionally important peptide binding regions (PBR). Neutral genetic diversity was assessed by genotyping twenty‐three microsatellite loci. 

We confirmed that MHC is an adaptive marker in both populations. Overall, the Shark Bay population exhibited greater MHC diversity than the Bunbury population—for example, it displayed greater MHC nucleotide diversity. In contrast, the difference in microsatellite diversity between the two populations was comparatively low.

Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that viable populations typically display greater genetic diversity than less viable populations. The results also suggest that MHC variation is more closely associated with population viability than neutral genetic variation. Although the inferences from our findings are limited, because we only compared two populations, our results add to a growing number of studies that highlight the usefulness of MHC as a potentially suitable genetic marker for animal conservation. The Shark Bay population, which carries greater adaptive genetic diversity than the Bunbury population, is thus likely more robust to natural or human‐induced changes to the coastal ecosystem it inhabits.

Full citation: Manlik O, Krützen M, Kopps AM, Mann J, Bejder L, Allen SJ, Frère C, Connor RC, Sherwin WB 2019. Is MHC diversity a better marker for conservation than neutral genetic diversity? A case study of two contrasting dolphin populations. Ecology and Evolution 2019;00: 1-13 DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.5265

Funding: WV Scott Foundation; National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 0918308, 0941487 and 1559380; Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation, Grant/Award Number: RM09107; NSERC; National Geographic Society; PADI Foundation; Australian Research Council; Shark Bay Shire; United Arab Emirates University.

Apr 2019 – Dolphins in hot water, new paper out in Current Biology

Feature image: This tiny calf of “Sunny”, a sponging mother dolphin in Shark Bay, did not make it to one year of age in the hard times following a marine heatwave.

 


Blurb: 
The remote and beautiful Shark Bay World Heritage Area (and marine park) got itself into some hot water in the summer of 2011. Various negative impacts across trophic levels followed this unprecedented marine heat wave, exacerbated by some anomalous flooding events, including the loss of habitat-forming seagrass meadows, crashes in invertebrate and fish populations, as well declines in marine turtle health.

For a little not-so-light reading, check out these prior papers by our friends and colleagues: Thomson et al. (2015). Extreme temperatures, foundation species, and abrupt ecosystem change: an example from an iconic seagrass ecosystem. Global Change Biology 21:1463–1474. And: Arias-Ortiz et al. (2018). A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world’s largest seagrass carbon stocks. Nature Climate Change 8: 338–344.

Piccolo, daughter of Puck, is a famous Shark Bay dolphin. Here, she works hard to round up a bream in the shallows of Monkey Mia beach.

 

Highlights:This should probably read “lowlights” but, in this paper, we used our long-term demographic data to report on the subsequent (arguably cascading) effects of habitat degradation on the survival and reproduction of the iconic bottlenose dolphin population that inhabits this globally unique ecosystem.

Title: Long-term decline in survival and reproduction of dolphins following a marine heatwave. 

Authors: Sonja Wild, Michael Krützen, Robert W Rankin, Will JE Hoppitt, Livia Gerber, Simon J Allen.

Abstract: It’s a two-page correspondence piece, so there isn’t really an abstract per se, but here is the first paragraph, a pseudo-abstract of sorts: One of many challenges in the conservation of biodiversity is the recent trend in the frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events. The Shark Bay World Heritage Area, Western Australia, endured an unprecedented marine heatwave in 2011. Catastrophic losses of habitat-forming seagrass meadows followed, along with mass mortalities of invertebrate and fish communities. Our long-term demographic data on Shark Bay’s resident Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) population revealed a significant decline in female reproductive rates following the heatwave. Moreover, capture–recapture analyses indicated 5.9% and 12.2% post heatwave declines in the survival of dolphins that use tools to forage and those that do not, respectively. This implies that the tool-using dolphins may have been somewhat buffered against the cascading effects of habitat loss following the heatwave by having access to a less severely affected foraging niche. Overall, however, lower survival has persisted post-heatwave, suggesting that habitat loss following extreme weather events may have prolonged, negative impacts on even behaviourally flexible, higher-trophic level predators.

 

Oakley and calf cruise over the seagrass and sand in western Shark Bay.

 

Full citation: Wild S, Krützen M, Rankin RW, Hoppitt WJE, Gerber L and Allen SJ. 2019. Long-term decline in survival and reproduction of dolphins following a marine heatwave. Current Biology 29: R1-R2. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.047

Funding and acknowledgements: This research was funded by grants from the Swiss Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation, WV Scott Foundation and the AH Schultz Stiftung. We thank Mitsui, Shark Bay Resources, and the Useless Loop community for in-kind support, and field assistants for contributions to data collection. This research was conducted with scientific investigation permits from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, as well as animal ethics approvals from the University of Zurich, University of Western Australia, Murdoch University and the University of New South Wales.

 

An alliance of males follows the foraging female in western Shark Bay. We hope we are not consigned to documenting the demise of the remarkable wildlife population.

 

Watch this space for more research findings in the coming months…

Jun 2018 – New publication on signature whistles in male alliances

The Dolphin Alliance Project and colleagues are pleased to announce the publication of our recent work on communication in Shark Bay’s “teams of rivals”, the male alliances…

Citation: King SL, Friedman W, Allen SJ, Gerber L, Jensen F, Wittwer S, Connor RC, Krützen M 2018. Bottlenose dolphins retain individual vocal labels in multi-level alliances. Current Biology https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.013.

Field methods at a glance: A trio of dolphins forages in the shallows near Peron Peninsula. The research team confirms their identities with photo-identification, records their vocalisations with a four-hydrophone array and obtains aerial video with either a helikite- or a drone-mounted HD video camera (photo: Simon J Allen).

Summary: Cooperation between allied individuals and groups is ubiquitous in human societies, and vocal communication is known to play a key role in facilitating such complex human behaviours. In fact, complex communication may be a feature of the kind of social cognition required for the formation of social alliances, facilitating both partner choice and the execution of coordinated behaviours. As such, a compelling avenue for investigation is what role flexible communication systems play in the formation and maintenance of cooperative partnerships in other alliance-forming animals. Male bottlenose dolphins in some populations form complex multi-level alliances, where individuals cooperate in the pursuit and defense of an important resource: access to females. These strong relationships can last for decades and are critical to each male’s reproductive success. Convergent vocal accommodation is used to signal social proximity to a partner or social group in many taxa, and it has long been thought that allied male dolphins also converge onto a shared signal to broadcast alliance identity. Here, we combine a decade of data on social interactions with dyadic relatedness estimates to show that male dolphins that form multi-level alliances in an open social network retain individual vocal labels that are distinct from those of their allies. Our results differ from earlier reports of signature whistle convergence among males that form stable alliance pairs. Instead, they suggest that individual vocal labels play a central role in the maintenance of differentiated relationships within complex nested alliances. 

Figure 1 from the paper deftly illustrates the strength of social bonds between first- and second-order alliance partners, while the spectrograms display the whistle contours of each individual male dolphin (King et al. 2018). Note the differences between contours relative to the strength of particular social bonds.

Media: There was some very nice coverage from funders National Geographic (which you can view at: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/dolphins-animals-courtship-friends/#), a great summary appeared in The Conversation (http://theconversation.com/male-dolphins-use-their-individual-names-to-build-a-complex-social-network-97780) and, 48 hours later, it’s pretty much everywhere!

BUBBLES! Are you talkin’ to me!? (photo: Simon J Allen)
Acknowledgements: Stephanie is a Branco Weiss Fellowship—Society in Science Fellow. Stephanie, Richard and Whitney received grants from the National Geographic Society. The study was also supported by a Swiss National Science Foundation grant to Michael. Whitney was supported by a Graduate Fellowship in Anthropogeny from the University of California, San Diego. Frants was supported by the US Office of Naval Research and a fellowship from the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University. Permits for the scientific use of animals were obtained from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA), Western Australia. The University of Zurich and University of Western Australia granted animal ethics approvals. The authors thank RAC Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort, Monkey Mia Wildsights, and the DBCA’s Shark Bay Rangers, all field assistants and our human judges for their help during this study. Lastly, we grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript.
Stay tuned for some more exciting findings in the next few months.

Jan 2018 – The papers and presentations of 2017

Happy 2018! Time for a quick update: The last year has been a productive one for the Shark Bay Dolphin Research Alliance (SBDRA), with successful field seasons in both eastern (#36!) and western (#11) gulfs, a solid showing at the 22nd Biennial Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a number of papers published.

With field seasons wrapped up, we went on our way to Canada for the conference. Quite a few of us shared flights with other members of the group, plus colleagues from other labs. In various airports, we’d find the time to catch up and talk marine mammal science… oh wait. No, we wouldn’t. We’d just stare at our mobile devices…

 

 

Members of the SBDRA gave eight oral presentations and one poster presentation…

 

We also had a lovely ‘Friends of Shark Bay’ dinner for a gaggle of researchers past, present and future…

 

Amongst a few others, we published a paper on male alliance behaviour and mating access in the open social network of Shark Bay’s bottlenose dolphins (http://www.nature.com/articles/srep46354) in Nature’s Scientific Reports.

 

Also in Scientific Reports, another on sexual displays involving posturing and sponge presentation by male Australian humpback dolphins across north-western Australia (http://rdcu.be/w3tL).

 

There are so many intriguing parallels in behaviour and social complexity that exist between some of the cetacea and the great apes, but who would have thought that one charismatic, tool-using species might remain undiscovered until late 2017!? Congrats to Michael and colleagues on this wonderful result: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)31245-9.

 

2018 is shaping up to be a bumper year for papers and fieldwork. We look forward to sharing it with you, so stay tuned…

July 2017 – Field seasons start (and the Dolphin Alliance Project turns 35!)

The Shark Bay Dolphin Research Alliance field teams have now been back on the water for a month or so in Western Oz. This surely makes it time for a pictorial update of the first successes in pursuit of data on dolphins.

 

First things first, having kicked off in 1982, the Dolphin Alliance Project turns a healthy and productive 35 years old this season. Happy 36th field season DAP!

 

When packing for the field, there were a couple of team mascots a little concerned about whether or not they were joining us…

 

Indeed this day of departure image was no set-up – the door was left open and we came out to the project ute to find these rascals staking their claim…

 

One team went East (to Monkey Mia) with the hounds, while the other went West (to Useless Loop) with new team members and a recently serviced ‘Squidward’…

 

The Dolphin Alliance Project got amongst the action early, with popping males and foraging females on a glassy morning out…

 

The Dolphin Innovation Project got sampling on some glassy evenings in Useless Inlet…

 

And while Sonja did all the work driving and retrieving boats, Nahiid got busy with some serious shell photography (what a trooper!)…

 

Ol’ Bytfluke, the sponging grandmother, chasing brunch in a channel off Monkey Mia…

 

A trio of adult males from the 2nd-order alliance, the ‘Kroker Spaniels’, snagging near the pearl farm in Red Cliff Bay…

 

More of Stephanie’s acoustic targets, some of the ‘Hooligans’ alliance snagging in Whale Bight…

 

A beautiful young lady, Dokley, bow-riding in the shallows off Useless Loop…

 

Here is the delightful sponger Daiquiri in the Denham Channel, 2007…

 

And here she is, same fin, same old shark bite, same behaviour, same place, 2017…

 

Everyone’s favourite, the little boat-friendly Kimo in Useless Inlet…

 

And Kimo making photo-ID easy…

 

For those champing at the bit for an update on Osmo, the King of the Inlet, who lost his dorsal fin in a big fight over a female in 2016…

 

Here he is in 2017, looking cool, calm and healed…

 

And speaking of legends, here is the ‘Silver Bullet’ towing ‘Spongebob’ in the inaugural Dolphin Innovation Project season, 2007…

 

The end of an era, the last time the Bullet is used to launch the Bob before being handed over to a new owner (no, Silver Bullet has NOT crossed the rainbow bridge just yet)…

 

Of course, being in Shark Bay means some pretty sunsets. Sometimes it is important to ignore the rule of thirds…

 

Sunsets AND dolphins…

 

AGAIN!

 

In case people are getting bored with dolphins and sunsets, here are some BUDGIES!

 

For the picky/pedantic/thorough folk out there: photo credits go to the likes of Stephanie King, Nahiid Stephens, Sonja Wild and I of the Shark Bay Dolphin Research Alliance (Dolphin Alliance Project and Dolphin Innovation Project); image collection and other sampling/research was carried out under permit from WA Dept of Parks and Wildlife; and no doggies, dolphins or budgies were harmed in the making of this blog.