Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vsgnj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T03:28:23.069Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prey-transfer in the marine tucuxi dolphin, Sotalia fluviatilis, on the Brazilian coast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Luísa Helena Pinheiro Spinelli ,
Adolfo Hubner de Jesus ,
Lídio França do Nascimento  and
Maria Emília Yamamoto
Luísa Helena Pinheiro Spinelli*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Fisiologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Caixa Postal 1511 Natal, RN 59072-970, Brazil
Adolfo Hubner de Jesus
Affiliation:
Departamento de Fisiologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Caixa Postal 1511 Natal, RN 59072-970, Brazil
Lídio França do Nascimento
Affiliation:
Departamento de Fisiologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Caixa Postal 1511 Natal, RN 59072-970, Brazil
Maria Emília Yamamoto
Affiliation:
Departamento de Fisiologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Caixa Postal 1511 Natal, RN 59072-970, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Luísa Helena Pinheiro Spinelli, Departamento de Fisiologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Caixa Postal 1511 – Natal, RN 59072-970Brazil email: luisaspinelli@yahoo.com.br
Get access

Abstract

The first record of prey-transfer behaviour between adult and calf animals in Sotalia fluviatilis is recorded. Five clear episodes of prey-transfer from adult animals to calves were observed, occurring in north-eastern Brazil at Pipa's Beach. These results suggest that food-sharing is a naturally occurring behaviour in the marine tucuxi dolphin, and that it may act as both a food supply and as an opportunity to obtain information about the food that is eaten by other group members.

Keywords

prey-transfermarine tucuxi dolphinSotalia fluviatilis
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 1 , January 2008 , e25
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baird, R.W. (2000) The killer whale: foraging specializations and group hunting. In Mann, J. et al. (eds) Cetacean societies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 127–153.Google Scholar
Baird, R.W. and Dill, L.M. (1995) Occurrence and behaviour of transient killer whales: seasonal and pod-specific variability, foraging behaviour, and prey handling. Canadian Journal of Zoology 73, 1300–1311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boesch, C. (1991) Teaching among wild chimpanzees. Animal Behaviour 41, 530–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borobia, M., Siciliano, S., Lodi, L. and Woek, W. (1991) Distribution of the South American dolphin Sotalia fluviatilis. Canadian Journal of Zoology 69, 1025–1039.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, T. and Bonde, R.K. (2000) Tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis) occurs in Nicaragua, 800 km north of its previously known range. Marine Mammal Science 16, 447–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clutton-Brock, T.H. (1991) The evolution of parental care. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connor, R.C. and Norris, K.S. (1982) Are dolphins reciprocal altruists? The American Naturalist 119, 358–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connor, R.C. and Smolker, R.S. (1985) Habituated dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in Western Australia. Journal of Mammalogy 66, 398–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connor, R.C., Wells, R.S., Mann, J. and Read, A.J. (2000) The bottlenose dolphin: social relationships in a fission-fusion society. In Mann, J. et al. (eds) Cetacean societies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 91–126.Google Scholar
Coussi-Korbel, S. and Fragaszy, D. (1995) On the relation between social dynamics and social learning. Animal Behaviour 50, 1441–1453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferreira, R., Resende, B.D., Mannu, M., Ottoni, E.B. and Izar, P. (2002) Bird predation and prey-transfer in brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Neotropical Primates 10, 84–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guinet, C., Barret-Lennard, L.G. and Loyer, B. (2000) Co-ordinated attack behavior and prey sharing by killer whales at Crozet Archipelago: strategies for feeding on negatively-buoyant prey. Marine Mammal Science 16, 829–834.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Link, L.O. (2000) Ocorrência, uso do habitat e fidelidade ao local do boto cinza, Sotalia fluviatilis, Gervais 1853, (Mammalia: Cetácea), no litoral do Rio Grande do Norte. MSc thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.Google Scholar
Lodi, L. and Hetzel, B. (1999) Rough-toothed dolphin, Steno bredanensis, feeding behaviors in Ilha Grande Bay, Brazil. Biociências 7, 29–42.Google Scholar
Mann, J. and Smuts, B.B. (1999) Behavioral development in wild bottlenose dolphin newborns (Tursiops sp.). Behaviour 136, 529–566.Google Scholar
Pryor, K., Lindbergh, J., Lindbergh, S. and Milano, R. (1990) A dolphin–human fishing cooperative in Brazil. Marine Mammal Science 6, 77–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rapaport, L. (2001) Food transfer among adult lion tamarins: mutualism, reciprocity or one-sided relationships? International Journal of Primatology 22, 611–629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reiss, D., McCowan, B. and Marino, L. (1997) Communicative and other cognitive characteristics of bottlenose dolphins. Trends in Cognitive Science 1, 40–145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rendell, L. and Whitehead, H. (2001) Culture in whales and dolphins. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24, 309–382.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roush, R. and Snowdon, C. (2001) Food transfer and development of feeding behavior and food-associated vocalizations in cotton-top tamarins. Ethology 107, 415–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruiz-Miranda, C.R., Kleiman, D.G., Dietz, J.M., Moraes, E., Grativol, A.D., Baker, A.J. and Beck, B.B. (1999) Food tranfers in wild and reintroduced golden lion tamarins, Leontopithecus rosalia. American Journal of Primatology 48, 305–320.3.0.CO;2-V>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santos, M.C.O., Acuña, L.B. and Rosso, S. (2001) Insights on site fidelity and calving intervals of the marine tucuxi dolphin (Sotalia fluviatilis) in south-eastern Brazil. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 81, 1049–1052.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shane, S.H. and Wells, R.S. (1986) Ecology, behavior and social organization of the bottlenose dolphin: a review. Marine Mammal Science 2, 34–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snowdon, C.T. (2001) Social processes in communication and cognition in Callitrichid monkeys. Animal Cognition 4, 247–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spinelli, L.H.P., Nascimento, L.F. and Yamamoto, M.E. (2002) Identificação e descrição da brincadeira em uma espécie pouco estudada, o boto cinza (Sotalia fluviatilis), em seu ambiente natural. Estudos de Psicologia 7, 165–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tavolga, M.C. and Essapian, F.S. (1957) The behavior of the bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus): mating, pregnancy, parturition and mother–infant behavior. Zoologica 42, 11–31.Google Scholar
Whitehead, H. and Mann, J. (2000) Female reproductive strategies of cetaceans. In Mann, J. et al. (eds) Cetacean societies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 219–246.Google Scholar