Acoustic crypsis in communication by North Atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs on the calving grounds
Mammals with dependent young often rely on cryptic behaviour to avoid detection by potential predators. In the mysticetes, large baleen whales, young calves are known to be vulnerable to direct predation from both shark and orca predators; therefore, it is possible that mother–calf pairs may show cr...
Published in: | Biology Letters |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The Royal Society
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 |
id |
crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 2024-09-09T19:31:48+00:00 Acoustic crypsis in communication by North Atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs on the calving grounds Parks, Susan E. Cusano, Dana A. Van Parijs, Sofie M. Nowacek, Douglas P. Office of Naval Research Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Biology Letters volume 15, issue 10, page 20190485 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X journal-article 2019 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 2024-07-29T04:23:19Z Mammals with dependent young often rely on cryptic behaviour to avoid detection by potential predators. In the mysticetes, large baleen whales, young calves are known to be vulnerable to direct predation from both shark and orca predators; therefore, it is possible that mother–calf pairs may show cryptic behaviours to avoid the attention of predators. Baleen whales primarily communicate through low-frequency acoustic signals, which can travel over long ranges. In this study, we explore the potential for acoustic crypsis, a form of cryptic behaviour to avoid predator detection, in North Atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs. We predicted that mother–calf pairs would either show reduced calling rates, reduced call amplitude or a combination of these behavioural modifications when compared with other demographic groups in the same habitat. Our results show that right whale mother–calf pairs have a strong shift in repertoire usage, significantly reducing the number of higher amplitude, long-distance communication signals they produced when compared with juvenile and pregnant whales in the same habitat. These observations show that right whale mother–calf pairs rely upon acoustic crypsis, potentially to minimize the risk of acoustic eavesdropping by predators. Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whales North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Orca The Royal Society Biology Letters 15 10 20190485 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
op_collection_id |
crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Mammals with dependent young often rely on cryptic behaviour to avoid detection by potential predators. In the mysticetes, large baleen whales, young calves are known to be vulnerable to direct predation from both shark and orca predators; therefore, it is possible that mother–calf pairs may show cryptic behaviours to avoid the attention of predators. Baleen whales primarily communicate through low-frequency acoustic signals, which can travel over long ranges. In this study, we explore the potential for acoustic crypsis, a form of cryptic behaviour to avoid predator detection, in North Atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs. We predicted that mother–calf pairs would either show reduced calling rates, reduced call amplitude or a combination of these behavioural modifications when compared with other demographic groups in the same habitat. Our results show that right whale mother–calf pairs have a strong shift in repertoire usage, significantly reducing the number of higher amplitude, long-distance communication signals they produced when compared with juvenile and pregnant whales in the same habitat. These observations show that right whale mother–calf pairs rely upon acoustic crypsis, potentially to minimize the risk of acoustic eavesdropping by predators. |
author2 |
Office of Naval Research Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Parks, Susan E. Cusano, Dana A. Van Parijs, Sofie M. Nowacek, Douglas P. |
spellingShingle |
Parks, Susan E. Cusano, Dana A. Van Parijs, Sofie M. Nowacek, Douglas P. Acoustic crypsis in communication by North Atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs on the calving grounds |
author_facet |
Parks, Susan E. Cusano, Dana A. Van Parijs, Sofie M. Nowacek, Douglas P. |
author_sort |
Parks, Susan E. |
title |
Acoustic crypsis in communication by North Atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs on the calving grounds |
title_short |
Acoustic crypsis in communication by North Atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs on the calving grounds |
title_full |
Acoustic crypsis in communication by North Atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs on the calving grounds |
title_fullStr |
Acoustic crypsis in communication by North Atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs on the calving grounds |
title_full_unstemmed |
Acoustic crypsis in communication by North Atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs on the calving grounds |
title_sort |
acoustic crypsis in communication by north atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs on the calving grounds |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 |
genre |
baleen whales North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Orca |
genre_facet |
baleen whales North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Orca |
op_source |
Biology Letters volume 15, issue 10, page 20190485 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
20190485 |
_version_ |
1809900621567885312 |