Now that summer is in full swing, the dolphins outside your doorstep are busy having babies and making babies for next year. This means that groups of male and female dolphins are assembling and negotiating important social interactions.
Negotiation often involves tail slaps, which are used to communicate a range of emotions from gentle affection to warning and, occasionally, anger.
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One form of negotiation involving tail slaps occurs when two bonded bull buddies synchronize their slaps as double warnings to rival bulls during courtship activities. The shallow waters around the islands of John’s Pass are popular dolphin gathering grounds for this. Such “sandbar socials” typically include technically available females, bulls who compete for them, and females with calves of various ages. Teens are notably absent, but are occasionally spotted on the far edges of the action as they eavesdrop on the adults’ interactions.
One June evening, 18 dolphins gathered, mostly bulls amid a handful of pregnant and mother dolphins, and a local female that Capt. Heidemann and I call Split — the only technically available female at the time.
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Her newborn calf had died three weeks before, propelling her into a technically available phase that drew bulls like flies. Her swirling suitors were busy sizing each other up. Side by side, the females threaded through them.
One of the lone bulls was N, one of the Bowery Boys but temporarily without an alliance partner. N knew Split well and had shown a strong interest in her (some bulls show a steady preference for the same female across the years). When N arrived on this evening’s social scene, he joined Split directly. At the time, the females were flanked by big bulls Ouch and Fishlips.
Their immediate response was to wind up and whack their beefy tails against the water at the same time in a conspicuous synchronized tail slap. This startled the youngest calf in the group, Qball, so her mother Q scooped her up on her back for a short, slippery but reassuring ride. Assuredly out-gunned by the synchronized pair of bulls, N vanished!
Another form of negotiation involving tail slaps occurs when a courting couple synchronizes their slaps in clear concert to warn away rivals. For example, big bull Schnoz has the habit of performing series of light taps of the flukes against the water when romantic rivals draw too near, behavior called motorboating. Females echo his message by doing the same!
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One amorous June morning in 2014, courting couple Schnoz and Bet were trailed by two rival bulls. When the rivals swirled too closely, Schnoz started a series of subtle tail slaps — subtle like an ominous drumbeat — which Bet quickly matched.
Just recently, on another amorous July morning in 2019, courting couple Schnoz and Split were trailed by four rival bulls. Again when the rivals swirled too closely, Schnoz performed his series of subtle tail slaps — which Split then matched. In both episodes, rivals dropped back. Though biologically compelled to continue tracking a fertile female, rival bulls ceased to challenge the reigning escort Schnoz, at least for the moment.
How can Schnoz afford to use subtle tail slaps? He has high status and therefore no need to fight to have his way.
Such observations show that our local bottlenose dolphins watch each other and imitate or match each other in social situations that call for communicating a united front. They reveal that a pair of bulls does not automatically prevail against a lone bull when rivals compete for a fertile female. They also show that courting couples as well as bonded bulls act in unison to communicate a united front. Yet still other sets of dolphins communicate a united front, another story for another day.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY
