High suckling rates and acoustic crypsis of humpback whale neonates maximise potential for mother–calf energy transfer
Summary The migration of humpback whales to and from their breeding grounds results in a short, critical time period during which neonatal calves must acquire sufficient energy via suckling from their fasting mothers to survive the long return journey. Understanding neonate suckling behaviour is cri...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2F1365-2435.12871 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 |
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crwiley:10.1111/1365-2435.12871 2024-09-15T18:11:10+00:00 High suckling rates and acoustic crypsis of humpback whale neonates maximise potential for mother–calf energy transfer Videsen, Simone K. A. Bejder, Lars Johnson, Mark Madsen, Peter T. Goldbogen, Jeremy Murdoch University 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2F1365-2435.12871 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Functional Ecology volume 31, issue 8, page 1561-1573 ISSN 0269-8463 1365-2435 journal-article 2017 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 2024-08-09T04:31:44Z Summary The migration of humpback whales to and from their breeding grounds results in a short, critical time period during which neonatal calves must acquire sufficient energy via suckling from their fasting mothers to survive the long return journey. Understanding neonate suckling behaviour is critical for understanding the energetics and evolution of humpback whale migratory behaviour and for informing conservation efforts, but despite its importance, very little is known about the details, rate and behavioural context of this critical energy transfer. To address this pertinent data gap on calf suckling behaviour, we deployed multi‐sensor Dtags on eight humpback whale calves and two mothers allowing us to analyse detailed suckling and acoustic behaviour for a total of 68·8 h. Suckling dives were performed 20·7 ± 7% of the total tagging time with the mothers either resting at the surface or at depth with the calves hanging motionless with roll and pitch angles close to zero. Vocalisations between mother and calf, which included very weak tonal and grunting sounds, were produced more frequently during active dives than suckling dives, suggesting that mechanical stimuli rather than acoustic cues are used to initiate nursing. Use of mechanical cues for initiating suckling and low level vocalisations with an active space of <100 m indicate a strong selection pressure for acoustic crypsis. Such inconspicuous behaviour likely reduces the risk of exposure to eavesdropping predators and male humpback whale escorts that may disrupt the high proportion of time spent nursing and resting, and hence ultimately compromise calf fitness. The small active space of the weak calls between mother and calf is very sensitive to increases in ambient noise from human encroachment thereby increasing the risk of mother–calf separation. A lay summary is available for this article. Article in Journal/Newspaper Humpback Whale Wiley Online Library Functional Ecology 31 8 1561 1573 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Summary The migration of humpback whales to and from their breeding grounds results in a short, critical time period during which neonatal calves must acquire sufficient energy via suckling from their fasting mothers to survive the long return journey. Understanding neonate suckling behaviour is critical for understanding the energetics and evolution of humpback whale migratory behaviour and for informing conservation efforts, but despite its importance, very little is known about the details, rate and behavioural context of this critical energy transfer. To address this pertinent data gap on calf suckling behaviour, we deployed multi‐sensor Dtags on eight humpback whale calves and two mothers allowing us to analyse detailed suckling and acoustic behaviour for a total of 68·8 h. Suckling dives were performed 20·7 ± 7% of the total tagging time with the mothers either resting at the surface or at depth with the calves hanging motionless with roll and pitch angles close to zero. Vocalisations between mother and calf, which included very weak tonal and grunting sounds, were produced more frequently during active dives than suckling dives, suggesting that mechanical stimuli rather than acoustic cues are used to initiate nursing. Use of mechanical cues for initiating suckling and low level vocalisations with an active space of <100 m indicate a strong selection pressure for acoustic crypsis. Such inconspicuous behaviour likely reduces the risk of exposure to eavesdropping predators and male humpback whale escorts that may disrupt the high proportion of time spent nursing and resting, and hence ultimately compromise calf fitness. The small active space of the weak calls between mother and calf is very sensitive to increases in ambient noise from human encroachment thereby increasing the risk of mother–calf separation. A lay summary is available for this article. |
author2 |
Goldbogen, Jeremy Murdoch University |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Videsen, Simone K. A. Bejder, Lars Johnson, Mark Madsen, Peter T. |
spellingShingle |
Videsen, Simone K. A. Bejder, Lars Johnson, Mark Madsen, Peter T. High suckling rates and acoustic crypsis of humpback whale neonates maximise potential for mother–calf energy transfer |
author_facet |
Videsen, Simone K. A. Bejder, Lars Johnson, Mark Madsen, Peter T. |
author_sort |
Videsen, Simone K. A. |
title |
High suckling rates and acoustic crypsis of humpback whale neonates maximise potential for mother–calf energy transfer |
title_short |
High suckling rates and acoustic crypsis of humpback whale neonates maximise potential for mother–calf energy transfer |
title_full |
High suckling rates and acoustic crypsis of humpback whale neonates maximise potential for mother–calf energy transfer |
title_fullStr |
High suckling rates and acoustic crypsis of humpback whale neonates maximise potential for mother–calf energy transfer |
title_full_unstemmed |
High suckling rates and acoustic crypsis of humpback whale neonates maximise potential for mother–calf energy transfer |
title_sort |
high suckling rates and acoustic crypsis of humpback whale neonates maximise potential for mother–calf energy transfer |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2F1365-2435.12871 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 |
genre |
Humpback Whale |
genre_facet |
Humpback Whale |
op_source |
Functional Ecology volume 31, issue 8, page 1561-1573 ISSN 0269-8463 1365-2435 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12871 |
container_title |
Functional Ecology |
container_volume |
31 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1561 |
op_container_end_page |
1573 |
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1810448763390525440 |