Adult male Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) engage in prolonged bouts of synchronous diving
Studies of the social behavior of Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) are challenging because of their deep-water habitat usually far from shore and the limited time they spend at the surface. The sociality of these deepest diving mammals is of interest, however, especially for our understanding of how social systems evolve in extreme habitats. High levels of scarring suggest that males compete agonistically for access to females and so we predicted that associations among adult males would be unstable due to competitive exclusion. We tested this prediction by evaluating the diving behavior of animals within social groups off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, considering diving synchrony a proxy for group membership. Using data from satellite-linked depth-recording tags, we found that adult male–male pairs showed extended periods of synchrony in diving behavior, while all pairs that included an adult male with an individual of another age and/or sex dove synchronously for less than a day. We assessed three hypotheses to explain these surprising results: sexual segregation; extended bouts of male–male competition; and the presence of male alliances. Finally, we considered testable predictions to distinguish among these explanations.
Duke Scholars
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Related Subject Headings
- Marine Biology & Hydrobiology
- 4102 Ecological applications
- 3109 Zoology
- 3103 Ecology
- 0608 Zoology
- 0603 Evolutionary Biology
- 0602 Ecology
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Marine Biology & Hydrobiology
- 4102 Ecological applications
- 3109 Zoology
- 3103 Ecology
- 0608 Zoology
- 0603 Evolutionary Biology
- 0602 Ecology