Acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture
Porpoise echolocation has been studied previously, mainly in target detection experiments using stationed animals and steel sphere targets, but little is known about the acoustic behaviour of free-swimming porpoises echolocating for prey. Here, we used small onboard sound and orientation recording t...
Published in: | Journal of Experimental Biology |
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Language: | English |
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2009
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Online Access: | https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/acoustic-behaviour-of-echolocating-porpoises-during-prey-capture(3439f6d6-4949-4422-8ba6-fb4b926c07dc).html https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.030825 |
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ftunstandrewcris:oai:risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/3439f6d6-4949-4422-8ba6-fb4b926c07dc 2023-05-15T18:33:32+02:00 Acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture DeRuiter, Stacy L. Bahr, Alexander Blanchet, Marie-Anne Hansen, Sabina Fobian Kristensen, Jakob Hojer Madsen, Peter T. Tyack, Peter L. Wahlberg, Magnus 2009-10-01 https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/acoustic-behaviour-of-echolocating-porpoises-during-prey-capture(3439f6d6-4949-4422-8ba6-fb4b926c07dc).html https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.030825 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess DeRuiter , S L , Bahr , A , Blanchet , M-A , Hansen , S F , Kristensen , J H , Madsen , P T , Tyack , P L & Wahlberg , M 2009 , ' Acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture ' , Journal of Experimental Biology , vol. 212 , no. 19 , pp. 3100-3107 . https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.030825 article 2009 ftunstandrewcris https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.030825 2022-06-02T07:41:04Z Porpoise echolocation has been studied previously, mainly in target detection experiments using stationed animals and steel sphere targets, but little is known about the acoustic behaviour of free-swimming porpoises echolocating for prey. Here, we used small onboard sound and orientation recording tags to study the echolocation behaviour of free-swimming trained porpoises as they caught dead, freely drifting fish. We analysed porpoise echolocation behaviour leading up to and following prey capture events, including variability in echolocation in response to vision restriction, prey species, and individual porpoise tested. The porpoises produced echolocation clicks as they searched for the fish, followed by fast-repetition-rate clicks (echolocation buzzes) when acquiring prey. During buzzes, which usually began when porpoises were about 1-2 body lengths from prey, tag-recorded click levels decreased by about 10 dB, click rates increased to over 300 clicks per second, and variability in body orientation (roll) increased. Buzzes generally continued beyond the first contact with the fish, and often extended until or after the end of prey handling. This unexplained continuation of buzzes after prey capture raises questions about the function of buzzes, suggesting that in addition to providing detailed information on target location during the capture, they may serve additional purposes such as the relocation of potentially escaping prey. We conclude that porpoises display the same overall acoustic prey capture behaviour seen in larger toothed whales in the wild, albeit at a faster pace, clicking slowly during search and approach phases and buzzing during prey capture. Article in Journal/Newspaper toothed whales University of St Andrews: Research Portal Journal of Experimental Biology 212 19 3100 3107 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftunstandrewcris |
language |
English |
description |
Porpoise echolocation has been studied previously, mainly in target detection experiments using stationed animals and steel sphere targets, but little is known about the acoustic behaviour of free-swimming porpoises echolocating for prey. Here, we used small onboard sound and orientation recording tags to study the echolocation behaviour of free-swimming trained porpoises as they caught dead, freely drifting fish. We analysed porpoise echolocation behaviour leading up to and following prey capture events, including variability in echolocation in response to vision restriction, prey species, and individual porpoise tested. The porpoises produced echolocation clicks as they searched for the fish, followed by fast-repetition-rate clicks (echolocation buzzes) when acquiring prey. During buzzes, which usually began when porpoises were about 1-2 body lengths from prey, tag-recorded click levels decreased by about 10 dB, click rates increased to over 300 clicks per second, and variability in body orientation (roll) increased. Buzzes generally continued beyond the first contact with the fish, and often extended until or after the end of prey handling. This unexplained continuation of buzzes after prey capture raises questions about the function of buzzes, suggesting that in addition to providing detailed information on target location during the capture, they may serve additional purposes such as the relocation of potentially escaping prey. We conclude that porpoises display the same overall acoustic prey capture behaviour seen in larger toothed whales in the wild, albeit at a faster pace, clicking slowly during search and approach phases and buzzing during prey capture. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
DeRuiter, Stacy L. Bahr, Alexander Blanchet, Marie-Anne Hansen, Sabina Fobian Kristensen, Jakob Hojer Madsen, Peter T. Tyack, Peter L. Wahlberg, Magnus |
spellingShingle |
DeRuiter, Stacy L. Bahr, Alexander Blanchet, Marie-Anne Hansen, Sabina Fobian Kristensen, Jakob Hojer Madsen, Peter T. Tyack, Peter L. Wahlberg, Magnus Acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture |
author_facet |
DeRuiter, Stacy L. Bahr, Alexander Blanchet, Marie-Anne Hansen, Sabina Fobian Kristensen, Jakob Hojer Madsen, Peter T. Tyack, Peter L. Wahlberg, Magnus |
author_sort |
DeRuiter, Stacy L. |
title |
Acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture |
title_short |
Acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture |
title_full |
Acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture |
title_fullStr |
Acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture |
title_full_unstemmed |
Acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture |
title_sort |
acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/acoustic-behaviour-of-echolocating-porpoises-during-prey-capture(3439f6d6-4949-4422-8ba6-fb4b926c07dc).html https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.030825 |
genre |
toothed whales |
genre_facet |
toothed whales |
op_source |
DeRuiter , S L , Bahr , A , Blanchet , M-A , Hansen , S F , Kristensen , J H , Madsen , P T , Tyack , P L & Wahlberg , M 2009 , ' Acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture ' , Journal of Experimental Biology , vol. 212 , no. 19 , pp. 3100-3107 . https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.030825 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.030825 |
container_title |
Journal of Experimental Biology |
container_volume |
212 |
container_issue |
19 |
container_start_page |
3100 |
op_container_end_page |
3107 |
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1766218155665915904 |