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Context-dependent and seasonal fluctuation in bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) vocalizations

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Abstract

A fundamental question in animal behaviour is the role of vocal communication in the regulation of social interactions in species that organise themselves into social groups. Context dependence and seasonality in vocalizations are present in the communication of many species, although very little research has addressed this dependence in marine mammals. The study presented here examined variations in the rate at which free-ranging dyads of bottlenose dolphins emit social-signals in an effort to better understand the relationship between vocal communication and social context. The results demonstrate that changes in the social-signal production in bottlenose dolphins are related to the sex of the partner, mating season and social affiliation between the components of the dyad. In a context of foraging behaviour on the same feeding ground, mixed (male–female) dyads were found to emit more pulsed burst sounds during the mating season. Another relevant aspect of the study seems to be the greater production of agonistic social-signals in the dyads formed by individuals with a lower degree of social affiliation. Overall, this study confirms a clear relationship between dyad composition and context-specific social-signals that could reflect the motivational state of individuals linked to seasonal changes in vocal behaviour.

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Data availability

All analyses were carried out, and can be reproduced, in the open-source programs SOCPROG 2.8 and in v. 1.8.1. of the statistics and graphics tool R. Most of the data generated during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files]. Additional data and R scripts will be made available by the authors upon request.

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Acknowledgements

I thank the members of the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute (BDRI) team between 2004 and 2013 who generously gave their time to help with field, bioacoustics and photo-identification work. Many thanks are also extended to the BDRI students and volunteers who assisted with fieldwork. Thanks also to Séverine Methion, Ken Cheng and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. Thanks to Olga Mosca for proofreading the English text. Last but not least, a very special thanks to Ariel for her constant support during the last 10 years, thank you very much for everything.

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  1. Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute (BDRI), Av. Beiramar 192, 36980, O Grove, Spain

    Bruno Díaz López

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Correspondence to Bruno Díaz López.

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Díaz López, B. Context-dependent and seasonal fluctuation in bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) vocalizations. Anim Cogn 25, 1381–1392 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-022-01620-w

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