MSC 350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Autopsy, Whiskers, Cuttlefish

• School: University of Miami
• Department: Marine Science
• Course: MSC 350
• Professor: Jill Richardson

Document Summary

Behavior: any action or response to any stimulus. Why do we study behavior: understand. Evolution (change over time, or cultural transmission: causes of behavior. Behavior depicts survival: typically adaptations for survival, what about behaviors that do not serve a biological function. Playing high energetic expense, no gain. Marine mammologists: divide behavioral research into categories. Foraging behavior: how to find, select, process prey, early studies were done by necropsies. Base knowledge through supplemental observation: senses. Inter-click intervals used to find prey: cooperative/coordinated foraging. Sperm whales disperse at great depths then converge. Baleen whales use open mouth feeding and cooperative bubble and surface feeding: cost vs. Biological adaptations lead to changes in behavior. Mustache of walrus highly sensitive due to vibrissae and can detect prey in sediment. Gray whales sucking mud into mud then straining out through baleen: tool usage. Dolphins using sponge and conch to catch fish.