A new level of complexity in the male alliance networks of Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops sp.)

Author:

Connor Richard C.1,Watson-Capps Jana J.2,Sherwin William B.3,Krützen Michael4

Affiliation:

1. Biology Department, UMASS Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA

2. Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0215, USA

3. School of Biological, Earth and Ecological Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

4. Evolutionary Genetics Group, Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract

Male bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia form two levels of alliances; two to three males cooperate to herd individual females and teams of greater than three males compete with other groups for females. Previous observation suggested two alliance tactics: small four to six member teams of relatives that formed stable pairs or trios and unrelated males in a large 14-member second-order alliance that had labile trio formation. Here, we present evidence for a third level of alliance formation, a continuum of second-order alliance sizes and no relationship between first-order alliance stability and second-order alliance size. These findings challenge the ‘two alliance tactics’ hypothesis and add to the evidence that Shark Bay male bottlenose dolphins engage in alliance formation that likely places considerable demands on their social cognition.

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)

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