The Flipper The Dauphin series has bottled generations of children. Created in 1964, constantly rebroadcast around the world (in France until 2009), it celebrated, clicks and whistles in support, generosity, sweetness and fidelity of cetacean. Friend of the Ricks family, Flipper saved there, week after week, swimmers and shipwrecked, before turning off.
For four decades, science has drawn a somewhat different image of the animal. In the “Shark Bay”, Shark Bay, in the far west of Australia, the teams of researchers have certainly confirmed the degree of intelligence suggested by the soap. For example, to avoid injuries when he fishes on accidental terrain, Shark Bay’s dolphin protects his rostrum from a sponge. A behavior related to the mastery of a tool, transmitted socially and specific of this region: what ethologists call a “culture”. But biologists have also shown how much, without its fellows, the marine mammal was not much, as the species appears highly social. On the female side, the search for food as well as the care of the little ones are carried out collectively, the most experienced teaching their “sisters” the good manners. On the males side, knowledge remained more incomplete.
in an article published on August 30 In the reports of the Academy of American Sciences (PNAS) , Richard Connor, of the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, with Stephanie King, of the University of Bristol, and their colleagues, describe the magnitude of male networks. As of adolescence, young males are stretched, looking for each other, and are found. Duos are formed, sometimes trios, united for life. In these “first order alliances”, we share food but especially females.
Between these groups, the battle can be violent. Also “second -rate alliances” are established, which welcome including individuals who have remained solitary. During previous work, the American biologist had shown the central role of these “groups of groups”, made up of four to fourteen individuals. A call, and the acolytes return. No error possible because, in dolphins, the whistling is worth signature, with a main sound envelope determining the line, and individual variations – name, first name, in a way.
alliances of the third order
It is, moreover, thanks to the follow -up of these whistles and aerial photos that Richard Connor and Stephanie King highlighted alliances of the third order. Observed for the first time in 2001, these clans were the subject of a long observation. Result: bands of 22 to 50 individuals, decisive to have time alongside the females and to ensure the male a good reproductive success, demonstrates the article. What makes a good gang? “This time, the size counts, smiles Richard Connor. But not only: the intensity of the links, the number of interactions is also important.”
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