Social organization in northern bottlenose whales ( Hyperoodon ampullatus ): not driven by deep water foraging?

• Published in: Animal Behaviour
• Main Authors: Gowans, S, Whitehead, H, Hooker, Sascha Kate
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: NOSED DOLPHINS; SPERM WHALES; IDENTIFIED INDIVIDUALS; GALAPAGOS-ISLANDS; DIVING BEHAVIOR; ASSOCIATION; PATTERNS; Canada; Galapagos; The Gully; hyperoodon ampullatus; Northern bottlenose whale; Physeter macrocephalus
• Online Access: https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/social-organization-in-northern-bottlenose-whales-hyperoodon-ampullatus-not-driven-by-deep-water-foraging(455349d8-c1f9-4740-9433-be95a7ca6591).html; https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2001.1756; http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0034859334&partnerID=8YFLogxK

It is postulated that deep-water foraging in sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, has led to communal care of young and long-term female bonds. By studying the social organization of a second, unrelated, deep-diving species, the northern bottlenose whale, we investigated the role that deep diving may play in the evolution of cetacean sociality. Northern bottlenose whales in a deep-water canyon, the Gully off Nova Scotia, Canada, form small groups ((X) over bar +/- SD = 3.04 +/- 1.86). Associations within age/sex classes (female/immature, subadult male and mature male) were significantly higher than associations between different classes. Females and immature bottlenose whales formed a loose network of associations, showing no preferential associations with particular individuals or those from specific age/sex classes nor any long-term bonds. Mature and subadult males had stronger associations with individuals in their own class, and associations between some males lasted for several years, although males also formed many short-term associations. Overall the social organization of northern bottlenose whales in the Gully appears to resemble that of some bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, living in shallow, enclosed bays. Thus deep-water foraging does not appear to necessarily lead to the evolution of long-term bonds between females., (C) 2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.