Unusual use of shallow habitats may be evidence of a cultural tradition in Baird's beaked whales
Socially transmitted behavioural patterns (i.e. cultural traditions) have been observed in many whale species from large baleen whales to small dolphins. However, no cultural traditions have been described so far in beaked whales, an elusive and poorly studied group of toothed whales. In this study...
Published in: | Animal Behaviour |
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Online Access: | https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/46e73782-1cbf-4354-9e7a-53f8ca459052 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.12.021 https://findresearcher.sdu.dk/ws/files/253608383/1-s2.0-S0003347224000058-main.pdf |
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ftsydanskunivpub:oai:sdu.dk:publications/46e73782-1cbf-4354-9e7a-53f8ca459052 2024-04-28T08:14:09+00:00 Unusual use of shallow habitats may be evidence of a cultural tradition in Baird's beaked whales Filatova, Olga Fedutin, Ivan Meschersky, Ilya Mamaev, Evgeny Hoyt, Erich 2024-03 application/pdf https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/46e73782-1cbf-4354-9e7a-53f8ca459052 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.12.021 https://findresearcher.sdu.dk/ws/files/253608383/1-s2.0-S0003347224000058-main.pdf eng eng https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/46e73782-1cbf-4354-9e7a-53f8ca459052 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Filatova , O , Fedutin , I , Meschersky , I , Mamaev , E & Hoyt , E 2024 , ' Unusual use of shallow habitats may be evidence of a cultural tradition in Baird's beaked whales ' , Animal Behaviour , vol. 209 , pp. 121-128 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.12.021 article 2024 ftsydanskunivpub https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.12.021 2024-04-10T14:45:01Z Socially transmitted behavioural patterns (i.e. cultural traditions) have been observed in many whale species from large baleen whales to small dolphins. However, no cultural traditions have been described so far in beaked whales, an elusive and poorly studied group of toothed whales. In this study we report a local population of Baird's beaked whales, Berardius bairdii, in the Commander Islands regularly using a shallow area with depths of less than 300 m which is uncharacteristic for this species. We analysed the distribution of this behaviour and mtDNA haplotypes among individual whales to explore whether it represents a cultural tradition and whether it is transmitted vertically within separate maternal lineages or horizontally among nonrelated whales. We found that the whales that frequently visited the study area, and therefore were familiar with the underwater landscape, often used the shallow areas of the shelf slope, while transient whales, unfamiliar with the local conditions, mostly adhered to the depth range typical of their species. Only those transient whales that maintained social bonds with residents were sometimes observed in shallow areas. Order-of-acquisition diffusion analysis showed that social transmission of knowledge about the shallow habitat was significantly more likely than individual asocial learning. Two mtDNA haplotypes were shared between whales that used the shallow areas and those that did not, suggesting that these categories did not represent separate maternal lineages. We conclude that knowledge of the shallow areas is transmitted horizontally through social learning, and therefore this is an example of a local cultural tradition. Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whales toothed whales University of Southern Denmark Research Portal Animal Behaviour 209 121 128 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Southern Denmark Research Portal |
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ftsydanskunivpub |
language |
English |
description |
Socially transmitted behavioural patterns (i.e. cultural traditions) have been observed in many whale species from large baleen whales to small dolphins. However, no cultural traditions have been described so far in beaked whales, an elusive and poorly studied group of toothed whales. In this study we report a local population of Baird's beaked whales, Berardius bairdii, in the Commander Islands regularly using a shallow area with depths of less than 300 m which is uncharacteristic for this species. We analysed the distribution of this behaviour and mtDNA haplotypes among individual whales to explore whether it represents a cultural tradition and whether it is transmitted vertically within separate maternal lineages or horizontally among nonrelated whales. We found that the whales that frequently visited the study area, and therefore were familiar with the underwater landscape, often used the shallow areas of the shelf slope, while transient whales, unfamiliar with the local conditions, mostly adhered to the depth range typical of their species. Only those transient whales that maintained social bonds with residents were sometimes observed in shallow areas. Order-of-acquisition diffusion analysis showed that social transmission of knowledge about the shallow habitat was significantly more likely than individual asocial learning. Two mtDNA haplotypes were shared between whales that used the shallow areas and those that did not, suggesting that these categories did not represent separate maternal lineages. We conclude that knowledge of the shallow areas is transmitted horizontally through social learning, and therefore this is an example of a local cultural tradition. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Filatova, Olga Fedutin, Ivan Meschersky, Ilya Mamaev, Evgeny Hoyt, Erich |
spellingShingle |
Filatova, Olga Fedutin, Ivan Meschersky, Ilya Mamaev, Evgeny Hoyt, Erich Unusual use of shallow habitats may be evidence of a cultural tradition in Baird's beaked whales |
author_facet |
Filatova, Olga Fedutin, Ivan Meschersky, Ilya Mamaev, Evgeny Hoyt, Erich |
author_sort |
Filatova, Olga |
title |
Unusual use of shallow habitats may be evidence of a cultural tradition in Baird's beaked whales |
title_short |
Unusual use of shallow habitats may be evidence of a cultural tradition in Baird's beaked whales |
title_full |
Unusual use of shallow habitats may be evidence of a cultural tradition in Baird's beaked whales |
title_fullStr |
Unusual use of shallow habitats may be evidence of a cultural tradition in Baird's beaked whales |
title_full_unstemmed |
Unusual use of shallow habitats may be evidence of a cultural tradition in Baird's beaked whales |
title_sort |
unusual use of shallow habitats may be evidence of a cultural tradition in baird's beaked whales |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/46e73782-1cbf-4354-9e7a-53f8ca459052 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.12.021 https://findresearcher.sdu.dk/ws/files/253608383/1-s2.0-S0003347224000058-main.pdf |
genre |
baleen whales toothed whales |
genre_facet |
baleen whales toothed whales |
op_source |
Filatova , O , Fedutin , I , Meschersky , I , Mamaev , E & Hoyt , E 2024 , ' Unusual use of shallow habitats may be evidence of a cultural tradition in Baird's beaked whales ' , Animal Behaviour , vol. 209 , pp. 121-128 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.12.021 |
op_relation |
https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/46e73782-1cbf-4354-9e7a-53f8ca459052 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.12.021 |
container_title |
Animal Behaviour |
container_volume |
209 |
container_start_page |
121 |
op_container_end_page |
128 |
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1797580342618488832 |