Recent research has revealed that female bottlenose dolphins don’t just swim away from aggressive, “annoying” suitors; They actively listen for whoever is coming and change course when they hear the “name” of a male known for his opportunistic behavior, Phys.org I mentioned. Researchers studying Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia, have found that females use signature whistles to identify individual males, just as humans use names. When a female hears the whistle of a male with a history of coercive mating tactics, she will likely move away.
Male dolphins at Shark Bay often form alliances to guard and chase females during mating season. If the female tries to escape, the males may bite, hit or slap her with their tails.
Scientists have long studied male behavior, but a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences It appears that females are not passive in these encounters.
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The team combined decades of behavioral data with operating experience. They recorded the signature whistles of 11 adult males and played them to 17 terrestrial females through underwater speakers while flying a drone to track reactions.
Females consistently responded more strongly to the whistles of males with higher rates of kinship, which is indicative of how coercive the male is.
Females available for reproduction showed the strongest avoidance. Instead of waiting to see who would show up, they used the audio signal to anticipate problems and change their course.
By associating a male’s whistle with previous experiences with him, females can manage costly social interactions before they occur.
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The findings add to evidence suggesting that dolphins have a sophisticated communication system. Signature whistles are learned rather than innate, and dolphins have been shown to recognize their own “name” and imitate the names of others to reunite.
This study suggests that they also use these labels to track their reputation and make socially informed choices, a cognitive skill previously thought to be largely human.
Scientists say more work is needed to understand whether females also approach some males based on their whistles, and how these preferences affect mating success.
“We demonstrate that females can use individual vocal cues to discriminate between males based on their previous behavior, enabling them to anticipate and avoid coercive interactions,” the researchers said.
