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Tail walking in a bottlenose dolphin community : the rise and fall of an arbitrary cultural 'fad'

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Tail_walking_Biology_Letters_R2_Author_accepted_MS.pdf (1.069Mb)
Date
09/2018
Author
Bossley, M.
Steiner, A.
Brakes, P.
Shrimpton, J.
Foster, C.
Rendell, L.
Keywords
Social learning
Cultural transmission
Cetacean
Bottlenose dolphin
QH301 Biology
DAS
Metadata
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Abstract
Social learning of adaptive behaviour is widespread in animal populations, but the spread of arbitrary behaviours is less common. In this paper, we describe the rise and fall of a behaviour called tail walking, where a dolphin forces the majority of its body vertically out of the water and maintains the position by vigourously pumping its tail, in a community of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus). The behaviour was introduced into the wild following the rehabilitation of a wild female individual, Billie, who was temporarily co-housed with trained dolphins in a dolphinarium. This individual was sighted performing the behaviour seven years after her 1988 release, as was one other female dolphin named Wave. Initial production of the behaviour was rare, but following Billie's death two decades after her release, Wave began producing the behaviour at much higher rates, and several other dolphins in the community were subsequently sighted performing the behaviour. Social learning is the most likely mechanism for the introduction and spread of this unusual behaviour, which has no known adaptive function. These observations demonstrate the potential strength of the capacity for spontaneous imitation in bottlenose dolphins, and help explain the origin and spread of foraging specializations observed in multiple populations of this genus.
Citation
Bossley , M , Steiner , A , Brakes , P , Shrimpton , J , Foster , C & Rendell , L 2018 , ' Tail walking in a bottlenose dolphin community : the rise and fall of an arbitrary cultural 'fad' ' , Biology Letters , vol. 14 , no. 9 , 20180314 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0314
Publication
Biology Letters
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0314
ISSN
1744-9561
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2018, the Author(s). This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0314
Description
M.B. was supported by multiple grants from Whale & Dolphin Conservation (WDC).
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URL
https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4198145
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/16007

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