Behavior and social structure of the sperm whales of Dominica, West Indies
Abstract There is substantial geographic variation in the behavior and social structure of sperm whales worldwide. The population in the Eastern Caribbean is thought to be isolated from other areas in the North Atlantic. We describe the behavior and social structure of the sperm whales identified of...
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crwiley:10.1111/mms.12086 2024-09-15T18:23:31+00:00 Behavior and social structure of the sperm whales of Dominica, West Indies Gero, Shane Milligan, Marina Rinaldi, Caroline Francis, Pernell Gordon, Jonathan Carlson, Carole Steffen, Andrea Tyack, Peter Evans, Peter Whitehead, Hal Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Faculty of Graduate Studies, Dalhousie University Killam Trusts 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mms.12086 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmms.12086 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mms.12086 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Marine Mammal Science volume 30, issue 3, page 905-922 ISSN 0824-0469 1748-7692 journal-article 2013 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12086 2024-08-09T04:31:10Z Abstract There is substantial geographic variation in the behavior and social structure of sperm whales worldwide. The population in the Eastern Caribbean is thought to be isolated from other areas in the North Atlantic. We describe the behavior and social structure of the sperm whales identified off Dominica during an eight year study (2005–2012; 92% of photographic identifications) with supplementary data collected from seven other organizations dating as far back as 1981. A total of 419 individuals were identified. Resighting rates (42% of individuals between years) and encounter rates with sperm whale groups (mean = 80.4% of days at sea) among this population were both comparatively high. Group sizes were small (7–9 individuals) and were comprised of just one social unit (mean = 6.76 individuals, SD = 2.80). We described 17 units which have been reidentified off Dominica across 2–27 yr. Mature males are seen regularly off Dominica, but residency in the area lasts only a few days to a few weeks. Males were reidentified across years spanning up to a decade. Management of this population within the multinational Wider Caribbean Region will require governments to work towards international agreements governing sperm whales as a cross‐border species of concern. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Sperm whale Wiley Online Library Marine Mammal Science 30 3 905 922 |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract There is substantial geographic variation in the behavior and social structure of sperm whales worldwide. The population in the Eastern Caribbean is thought to be isolated from other areas in the North Atlantic. We describe the behavior and social structure of the sperm whales identified off Dominica during an eight year study (2005–2012; 92% of photographic identifications) with supplementary data collected from seven other organizations dating as far back as 1981. A total of 419 individuals were identified. Resighting rates (42% of individuals between years) and encounter rates with sperm whale groups (mean = 80.4% of days at sea) among this population were both comparatively high. Group sizes were small (7–9 individuals) and were comprised of just one social unit (mean = 6.76 individuals, SD = 2.80). We described 17 units which have been reidentified off Dominica across 2–27 yr. Mature males are seen regularly off Dominica, but residency in the area lasts only a few days to a few weeks. Males were reidentified across years spanning up to a decade. Management of this population within the multinational Wider Caribbean Region will require governments to work towards international agreements governing sperm whales as a cross‐border species of concern. |
author2 |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Faculty of Graduate Studies, Dalhousie University Killam Trusts |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gero, Shane Milligan, Marina Rinaldi, Caroline Francis, Pernell Gordon, Jonathan Carlson, Carole Steffen, Andrea Tyack, Peter Evans, Peter Whitehead, Hal |
spellingShingle |
Gero, Shane Milligan, Marina Rinaldi, Caroline Francis, Pernell Gordon, Jonathan Carlson, Carole Steffen, Andrea Tyack, Peter Evans, Peter Whitehead, Hal Behavior and social structure of the sperm whales of Dominica, West Indies |
author_facet |
Gero, Shane Milligan, Marina Rinaldi, Caroline Francis, Pernell Gordon, Jonathan Carlson, Carole Steffen, Andrea Tyack, Peter Evans, Peter Whitehead, Hal |
author_sort |
Gero, Shane |
title |
Behavior and social structure of the sperm whales of Dominica, West Indies |
title_short |
Behavior and social structure of the sperm whales of Dominica, West Indies |
title_full |
Behavior and social structure of the sperm whales of Dominica, West Indies |
title_fullStr |
Behavior and social structure of the sperm whales of Dominica, West Indies |
title_full_unstemmed |
Behavior and social structure of the sperm whales of Dominica, West Indies |
title_sort |
behavior and social structure of the sperm whales of dominica, west indies |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mms.12086 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmms.12086 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mms.12086 |
genre |
North Atlantic Sperm whale |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic Sperm whale |
op_source |
Marine Mammal Science volume 30, issue 3, page 905-922 ISSN 0824-0469 1748-7692 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12086 |
container_title |
Marine Mammal Science |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
905 |
op_container_end_page |
922 |
_version_ |
1810463737012813824 |