this dolphins they can solve complex problems, change the environment to their advantage, plan collective hunting strategies, pass on their knowledge and skills to their peers, recognize themselves in a mirror, and scientists believe it. use a complex communication system, so far not commented. They are extraordinary animals, probably smartest in the world after humans. Now, an international research team has shown that: It forms vast networks of multi-level alliances, the largest known non-human.. These collaborative relationships help access controversial resources.
Male bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) form doubles and triples to search by collaborating consortia of individual females that they guard closely. Some of these male couples or trios form extremely stable relationships that can last for decades. Scientists give them first-order alliances.
Male doubles and triples are in turn integrated into larger groups, Between 4 and 14 people irrelevant, secondary alliances. These teams, which have remained together for decades, compete with other alliances for access to women: they band together to ‘steal’ others’ alliances and defend their own.
But there are larger groups as well, third class alliancesusually forged when conflicts break out between inferior alliances. Really formed by dozens or even hundreds of dolphinsmembers of subordinate alliances cooperating with each other.
A team led by researchers from the University of Bristol, including experts from the University of Zurich and Massachusetts, analyzed the structure of alliances among 121 adult male Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Their findings were published in the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ (PNAS).
strategic relations
“Collaboration between allies is common in human societies and is one of the hallmarks of our success as a species. strategic and collaborative relationships at multiple social levelsLike commercial or military alliances, both domestic and international, it was once thought to be unique to our species,” said Stephanie King, the study’s lead author.
“Not only do male bottlenose dolphins form the largest known multi-level alliance network outside of humans, but also because of the cooperative relationships between groups, rather than just alliance size,” he said. increases reproductive success by allowing males to spend more time with females“, adds Bristol School of Biological Sciences associate professor
“We show that these teams of male dolphins mate with females when they are on good terms with tertiary allies. social bonds between alliances lead to long-term benefits for these menSays Simon Allen, Senior Lecturer at the Bristol School of Biological Sciences, who contributed to the study.
Until very recently, intergroup cooperation was thought to be unique to humans and due to the evolution of pair bonds and the maintenance of relatives by males, two traits that distinguish us from our common ancestor with chimpanzees. This is not so.
“Our results suggest that cross-group alliances can arise without these features. a social and mating system more similar to that of chimpanzees“Richard Connor, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts and now affiliated with Florida International University, who co-directed the study with King,” says.
very strong social ties
The publication of the importance of third-level or intergroup alliances in dolphins in 2022 has special meaning for the research team, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of Shark Bay dolphin research and the 30th anniversary of its publication in 1992. exploration of two levels of male alliance formation.
“It’s rare for an anthropology department to conduct non-primate research, but our work shows that important insights into the evolution of traits previously thought to be uniquely human can be gained by studying other primates.” highly social and big-brained taxon“, says Michael Krützen, the study’s author and director of the Anthropology Institute at the University of Zurich.
“Our study highlights that: Dolphin societies and non-human primates are valuable model systems for understanding human social and cognitive evolution.‘ emphasizes King.
The 1992 study has already shown that bottlenose dolphins cooperate in pairs and trios and form part of larger alliances. And it is the very strong social and emotional bonds that unite the dolphin communities that form complex, vast and open social networks.
Scientists never cease to marvel at the intelligence of dolphins. able to plan specific nutritional strategies for each of the environments in which they live. For example, dark dolphins in Patagonia herd flocks of anchovy in globes and then gobble them up.
More: In Florida Bay, bottlenose dolphins devised a unique way to catch mullet: surround them by lifting mud curtains from the seafloor. When fish jump over mud rings to escape, they drop into the dolphins’ mouths.
extraordinary ability to solve problems
In proportion to their body size, The dolphin has one of the largest brains in the animal kingdom, even ahead of the chimpanzee. Maybe that’s why they have extraordinary ability to solve complex problems.
In the Florida Keys, experts witnessed how two bottlenose dolphins realized in just seconds that the only way to get the cap off a PVC pipe filled with fish was to cooperate. So they did: they opened up between the two of them.
Some scientists believe that Every dolphin “invents” a unique name, a distinctive whistle, while still a calf, and uses it for life.. They are ‘acoustic signatures’ where dolphins, which are extraordinary chatty animals, greet each other and address each other by their ‘names’.
Dolphins have a type of sonar in their brains that helps them ‘see’ far with great precision: They can distinguish whether an object thirty meters away is metal, plastic, or wood…
The social networks that make up are very complex. And they show degree of cohesion and solidarity rarely seen in other animal groups: when one or more samples are in trouble, they get help from the group. And if a person falls ill and heads to surface waters, sometimes the entire group accompanies him, which explains the many mass strandings.
Reference work: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2121723119