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Superalliance of bottlenose dolphins

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Abstract

It is quite common to find several levels of nested male alliances in human political organization1, 2 but these are extremely rare in other species3. Yet we found that male bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) at Shark Bay, Western Australia, form two levels of alliance within a social network of more than 400 individuals. Fourteen of the males formed highly labile alliances, rather than the more typical stable ones, and joined forces in a large ‘superalliance’ that competed directly with smaller teams of stable alliances.

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Figure 1: Figure 1 Contrasting patterns of alliance formation cannot be explained by habitat differences.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, 02747, Massachusetts, USA

    Richard C. Connor

  2. Biology Department, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, V5A 1S6, British Columbia, Canada

    Michael R. Heithaus

  3. Biology Department, Georgetown University, Washington, 20057, DC, USA

    Lynne M. Barre

Authors
  1. Richard C. Connor
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  2. Michael R. Heithaus
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  3. Lynne M. Barre
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Connor, R., Heithaus, M. & Barre, L. Superalliance of bottlenose dolphins. Nature 397, 571–572 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/17501

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