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Tool use and social homophily among male bottlenose dolphins

Bizzozzero, M R; Allen, S J; Gerber, L; Wild, S; King, S L; Connor, R C; Friedman, W R; Wittwer, S; Krützen, M (2019). Tool use and social homophily among male bottlenose dolphins. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences, 286(1904):20190898.

Abstract

Homophilous behaviour plays a central role in the formation of human friendships. Individuals form social ties with others that show similar phenotypic traits, independently of relatedness. Evidence of such homophily can be found in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in Shark Bay, Western Australia, where females that use marine sponges as foraging tools often associate with other females that use sponges. ‘Sponging’ is a socially learned, time-consuming behaviour, transmitted from mother to calf. Previous research illustrated a strong female bias in adopting this technique. The lower propensity for males to engage in sponging may be due to its incompatibility with adult male-specific behaviours, particularly the formation of multi-level alliances. However, the link between sponging and male behaviour has never been formally tested. Here, we show that male spongers associated significantly more often with other male spongers irrespective of their level of relatedness. Male spongers spent significantly more time foraging, and less time resting and travelling, than did male non-spongers. Interestingly, we found no difference in time spent socializing. Our study provides novel insights into the relationship between tool use and activity budgets of male dolphins, and indicates social homophily in the second-order alliance composition of tool-using bottlenose dolphins.

Additional indexing

Item Type:Journal Article, refereed, original work
Communities & Collections:07 Faculty of Science > Department of Evolutionary Anthropology
Dewey Decimal Classification:300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
Scopus Subject Areas:Life Sciences > General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Life Sciences > General Immunology and Microbiology
Physical Sciences > General Environmental Science
Life Sciences > General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Language:English
Date:12 June 2019
Deposited On:07 Feb 2020 13:01
Last Modified:23 Oct 2024 01:35
Publisher:Royal Society Publishing
ISSN:0962-8452
OA Status:Hybrid
Free access at:Publisher DOI. An embargo period may apply.
Publisher DOI:https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0898
Project Information:
  • Funder: SNSF
  • Grant ID: 31003A_149956
  • Project Title: Male career moves - the genomics of cooperative behaviour and alliance formation in male bottlenose dolphins

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