MSC 350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Bottlenose Dolphin, Philopatry, Toothed Whale

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

Document Summary

Introduction: evolution of social behavior shaped by: Affects formation and costs of group living. Profound influence on social lives: offspring. Vulnerability of offspring leads to complex social strategies. Mothers need to leave offspring to forage. Range from solitary (manatees) to thousands (oceanic dolphins) Leads to development of social bonds: why form groups. Food or space but difficult to identify in vast marine environment. Offspring can be considered a resource and defense of these results in babysitting or alloparenting. Size of prey or amount of prey in clusters can limit group size. Females may group together to avoid harassment by males. Females may group together to keep offspring safe from males. Dolphins can swim in each others slip streams. Not related to a benefit: negative impacts of groups. Increase transmission of disease or parasites: philopatry: remaining in natal groups or in birthplace, majority of marine mammals (females) stay in birth group, helps to avoid inbreeding, may be favored by social factors.