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Odontocete Social Strategies and Tactics Along and Inshore

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Book cover Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Odontocetes

Part of the book series: Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Marine Mammals ((EBEMM))

Abstract

Odontocetes are social animals, and long-term studies of nearshore species have documented high levels of social complexity, cultural innovation, cooperation, and social bonding within populations. While odontocete social lives may ultimately owe their existence to the predator protection benefits of grouping, it is becoming clear that there is great variability in the nature of social relationships and fitness consequences of social behavior for whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Although much of what we know still comes from limited longitudinal studies of identified individuals from a handful of species at multiple sites, information from new populations and species highlights the flexibility and vulnerability of odontocete societies in close proximity to humans and the need for robust conservation and management plans that account for social and cultural processes.

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  1. Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, c/o Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL, USA

    Katherine McHugh

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  1. Katherine McHugh
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Correspondence to Katherine McHugh .

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  1. Texas A&M University at Galveston, Galveston, TX, USA

    Bernd Würsig

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McHugh, K. (2019). Odontocete Social Strategies and Tactics Along and Inshore. In: Würsig, B. (eds) Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Odontocetes. Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Marine Mammals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16663-2_8

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