Individual recognition in wild bottlenose dolphins: a field test using playback experiments

We conducted playback experiments with wild bottlenose dolphins,Tursiops truncatus, to determine whether there is sufficient information in their individually distinctive signature whistles for individual recognition. We conducted experiments with members of a resident community of dolphins in water...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animal behaviour 1999-01, Vol.57 (1), p.41-50
Main Authors: SAYIGH, LAELA S., TYACK, PETER L., WELLS, RANDALL S., SOLOW, ANDREW R., SCOTT, MICHAEL D., IRVINE, A.B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal communication
Animal ethology
Biological and medical sciences
Dolphins & porpoises
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Mammalia
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Tursiops truncatus
Vertebrata
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Summary:We conducted playback experiments with wild bottlenose dolphins,Tursiops truncatus, to determine whether there is sufficient information in their individually distinctive signature whistles for individual recognition. We conducted experiments with members of a resident community of dolphins in waters near Sarasota, Florida, during temporary capture–release projects. We used a paired playback design, wherein the same two whistle sequences were predicted to evoke opposite responses from two different target animals. This design controlled for any unknown cues that may have been present in the playback stimuli. We predicted that mothers would respond more strongly to the whistles of their own independent offspring than to the whistles of a familiar, similar-aged nonoffspring. Similarly, we predicted that independent offspring would respond more strongly to the whistles of their own mother than to the whistles of a familiar, similar-aged female. Target animals were significantly (P
ISSN:0003-3472
1095-8282
DOI:10.1006/anbe.1998.0961