Dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals
Bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, live in a large, unbounded society with a fission–fusion grouping pattern. Potential cognitive demands include the need to develop social strategies involving the recognition of a large number of individuals and their relationships with others. Patterns o...
Published in: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rstb.2006.1997 2024-09-15T18:37:34+00:00 Dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals Connor, Richard C 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.1997 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2006.1997 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2006.1997 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 362, issue 1480, page 587-602 ISSN 0962-8436 1471-2970 journal-article 2007 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.1997 2024-08-12T04:27:50Z Bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, live in a large, unbounded society with a fission–fusion grouping pattern. Potential cognitive demands include the need to develop social strategies involving the recognition of a large number of individuals and their relationships with others. Patterns of alliance affiliation among males may be more complex than are currently known for any non-human, with individuals participating in 2–3 levels of shifting alliances. Males mediate alliance relationships with gentle contact behaviours such as petting, but synchrony also plays an important role in affiliative interactions. In general, selection for social intelligence in the context of shifting alliances will depend on the extent to which there are strategic options and risk. Extreme brain size evolution may have occurred more than once in the toothed whales, reaching peaks in the dolphin family and the sperm whale. All three ‘peaks’ of large brain size evolution in mammals (odontocetes, humans and elephants) shared a common selective environment: extreme mutual dependence based on external threats from predators or conspecific groups. In this context, social competition, and consequently selection for greater cognitive abilities and large brain size, was intense. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sperm whale toothed whales The Royal Society Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 362 1480 587 602 |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, live in a large, unbounded society with a fission–fusion grouping pattern. Potential cognitive demands include the need to develop social strategies involving the recognition of a large number of individuals and their relationships with others. Patterns of alliance affiliation among males may be more complex than are currently known for any non-human, with individuals participating in 2–3 levels of shifting alliances. Males mediate alliance relationships with gentle contact behaviours such as petting, but synchrony also plays an important role in affiliative interactions. In general, selection for social intelligence in the context of shifting alliances will depend on the extent to which there are strategic options and risk. Extreme brain size evolution may have occurred more than once in the toothed whales, reaching peaks in the dolphin family and the sperm whale. All three ‘peaks’ of large brain size evolution in mammals (odontocetes, humans and elephants) shared a common selective environment: extreme mutual dependence based on external threats from predators or conspecific groups. In this context, social competition, and consequently selection for greater cognitive abilities and large brain size, was intense. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Connor, Richard C |
spellingShingle |
Connor, Richard C Dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals |
author_facet |
Connor, Richard C |
author_sort |
Connor, Richard C |
title |
Dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals |
title_short |
Dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals |
title_full |
Dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals |
title_fullStr |
Dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals |
title_sort |
dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.1997 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2006.1997 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2006.1997 |
genre |
Sperm whale toothed whales |
genre_facet |
Sperm whale toothed whales |
op_source |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 362, issue 1480, page 587-602 ISSN 0962-8436 1471-2970 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.1997 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
362 |
container_issue |
1480 |
container_start_page |
587 |
op_container_end_page |
602 |
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1810481941892300800 |