Abstract
Group living has a number of potential ecological and animal welfare benefits. The social environment of the 90 or so species (http://www.iucn-csg.org/index.php/status-of-the-worlds-cetaceans/) of cetaceans is highly diverse, ranging from the complex third-order alliances of male bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.), to the matrilineal societies of pilot whales (Globicephala sp.), to the apparently less social beaked whale species. Nevertheless, even for some beaked whales, there is evidence of stable group associations. For larger, long-lived or wide-ranging species, such as blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), there are also important spatio-temporal considerations for interpretation of behaviour and associations. As a result of the differing social structures and the opportunity for the transmission of social information, the relationship between sociality and welfare in this order of mammals is multifaceted. Sociality and social dynamics have the potential to influence individual and group welfare in both a positive and negative manner, and there are complex relationships between sociality, the impacts of human-induced rapid environmental change and the welfare of cetaceans. E.O. Wilson listed ten ‘qualities’ of sociality. Although used to classify animal societies according to their degree of sociality, some of these features also provide a useful roadmap for evaluating the importance of sociality for individual and group welfare. They are used here to examine the interplay between sociality, welfare and environmental change. The importance of the transmission of social information, culture and specific behaviours, such as play, is also explored within the context of environmental change and cetacean welfare. It is concluded that a more comprehensive understanding of the social mechanisms operating within and between cetacean social groups will enable a fuller understanding of the welfare implications of human-induced rapid environmental change. Alongside more traditional measures of welfare, such as body condition and disease, aspects of sociality may also provide important indicators for establishing welfare condition in these highly social species.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Amos B, Schlötterer C, Tautz D (1993) Social structure of pilot whales revealed by analytical DNA profiling. Science 260:670–672
Ansmann IC, Parra GJ, Chilvers BL, Lanyon JM (2012) Dolphins restructure social system after reduction of commercial fisheries. Anim Behav 84:575–581. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.06.009
Baker C, Steel D, Calambokidis J et al (2013) Strong maternal fidelity and natal philopatry shape genetic structure in North Pacific humpback whales. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 494:291–306. doi:10.3354/meps10508
Bass CL, Brakes P (2013) Whaling and whale killing methods. Anim Welf 22:109–111
Bekoff M, Pierce J (2009) Wild justice: the moral lives of animals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL
Best PB, Elwen SH, Palsboll PJ et al (2015) Possible non-offspring nursing in the southern right whale, Eubalaena australis. J Mammal 96:405–416. doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyv042
Brakes P, Dall SRX (2016) Marine mammal behavior: a review of conservation implications. Front Mar Sci 3:1–15. doi:10.3389/fmars.2016.00087
Brakes P, Simmonds MP (2013) Whales and dolphins: cognition, culture, conservation and human perceptions. Routledge, London
Brent LJN, Franks DW, Cant MA et al (2015) Ecological knowledge, leadership, and the evolution of menopause in killer whales. Curr Biol 25:1–5. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.037
Broom DM (2006) The evolution of morality. Appl Anim Behav Sci 100:20–28. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2006.04.008
Broom DM (2013) The science of animal welfare and its relevance to whales. Anim Welf 22:123–126. doi:10.7120/09627286.22.1.123
Cantor M, Whitehead H (2013) The interplay between social networks and culture: theoretically and among whales and dolphins. Philos Trans R Soc Lond Ser B Biol Sci 368:20120340. doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0340
Cantor M, Shoemaker LG, Cabral RB et al (2015) Multilevel animal societies can emerge from cultural transmission. Nat Commun 6:8091. doi:10.1038/ncomms9091
Carroll E, Patenaude N, Alexander A et al (2011) Population structure and individual movement of southern right whales around New Zealand and Australia. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 432:257–268. doi:10.3354/meps09145
Carroll EL, Rayment WJ, Alexander AM et al (2014) Reestablishment of former wintering grounds by New Zealand southern right whales. Mar Mamm Sci 30:206–220. doi:10.1111/mms.12031
Clapham PJ, Aguilar A, Hatch LT (2008) Determining spatial and temporal scales for management: lessons from whaling. Mar Mamm Sci 24:183–201
CMS (2014) Report of the CMS Scientific Council workshop on the conservation implications of cetacean culture
Connor RC, Krützen M (2015) Male dolphin alliances in Shark Bay: changing perspectives in a 30-year study. Anim Behav:1–13. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.02.019
Corning P (2012) The fair society: the science of human nature and the pursuit of social justice. University of Chicago Press, London
Croft DP, James R, Krause DJ (2008) Exploring animal social networks. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Dall SRX, Giraldeau LA, Olsson O et al (2005) Information and its use by animals in evolutionary ecology. Trends Ecol Evol 20:187–193. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2005.01.010
Daura-Jorge FG, Cantor M, Ingram SN et al (2012) The structure of a bottlenose dolphin society is coupled to a unique foraging cooperation with artisanal fishermen. Biol Lett 8:702–705. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2012.0174
Donaldson R, Finn H, Bejder L et al (2012) The social side of human-wildlife interaction: wildlife can learn harmful behaviours from each other. Anim Conserv 15:427–435. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2012.00548.x
Dunlop RA (2016) The effect of vessel noise on humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, communication behaviour. Anim Behav 111:13–21. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.10.002
Erbe C, Reichmuth C, Cunningham K et al (2015) Communication masking in marine mammals: a review and research strategy. Mar Pollut Bull. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.12.007
Fedutin ID, Filatova OA, Mamaev EG et al (2015) Occurrence and social structure of Baird’s beaked whales, Berardius bairdii, in the Commander Islands, Russia. Mar Mamm Sci 31:853–865. doi:10.1111/mms.12204
Fink B, Neave N, Manning JT, Grammer K (2005) Facial symmetry and the “big-five” personality factors. Personal Individ Differ 39:523–529. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2005.02.002
Gregg JD, Project DC, Dudzinski KM, Smith HV (2007) Do dolphins eavesdrop on the echolocation signals of conspecifics? Int J Comp Psychol 20:65–88
Greggor AL, Clayton NS, Phalan B, Thornton A (2014) Comparative cognition for conservationists. Trends Ecol Evol 29:489–495. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2014.06.004
Held SDE, Špinka M (2011) Animal play and animal welfare. Anim Behav 81:891–899
Houde M, Hoekstra PF, Solomon KR, Muir DCG (2005) Organohalogen contaminants in delphinoid cetaceans. Rev Environ Contam Toxicol 184:1–57. doi:10.1007/0-387-27565-7_1
IUCN (2016) Status of the World’s Cetaceans | IUCN SSC – Cetacean Specialist Group. http://www.iucn-csg.org/index.php/status-of-the-worlds-cetaceans/. Accessed 9 Mar 2016
Janik VM (2015) Play in dolphins. Curr Biol 25:R7–R8. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.010
Johnstone R, Cant M (2010) The evolution of menopause in cetaceans and humans: the role of demography. Proc Biol Sci 277:3765–3771. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.0988
Krause J, Ruxton GD (2002) Living in groups. OUP, Oxford
Krützen M, Kreicker S, Macleod CD et al (2014) Cultural transmission of tool use by Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) provides access to a novel foraging niche. Proc Biol Sci 281:20140374. doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.0374
Kuczaj SA, Eskelinen HC (2014) Why do dolphins play? Anim Behav Cogn 2:113. doi:10.12966/abc.05.03.2014
Lomac-Macnair K, Smultea MA (2016) Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) behavior and group dynamics as observed from an aircraft off southern California. Anim Behav Cogn 3:1–21. doi:10.12966/abc.02.01.2016
Mann J, Kemps C (2003) The effects of provisioning on maternal care in wild bottlenose dolphins, Shark Bay, Australia. In: Gales N, Hindell M, Kirkwood R (eds) Marine mammals and humans: towards a sustainable balance. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton, pp 304–320
McComb K, Moss C, Durant SM et al (2001) Matriarchs as repositories of social knowledge in African elephants. Science 292:491–494. doi:10.1126/science.1057895
McNamara JM, Dall SRX (2010) Information is a fitness enhancing resource. Oikos 119:231–236. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0706.2009.17509.x
Nowacek DP, Johnson MP, Tyack PL (2004) North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) ignore ships but respond to alerting stimuli. Proc Biol Sci 271:227–231. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2570
Paquet PCD, Darimont CT (2010) Wildlife conservation and animal welfare: two sides of the same coin? Anim Welf 19:177–190
Pierce J, Bekoff M (2012) Wild justice redux: what we know about social justice in animals and why it matters. Soc Justice Res 25:122–139. doi:10.1007/s11211-012-0154-y
Rault JL (2012) Friends with benefits: social support and its relevance for farm animal welfare. Appl Anim Behav Sci 136:1–14. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2011.10.002
Reijnders PJH (1996) Organohalogen and heavy metal contamination in cetaceans: observed effects, potential impacts and future prospects. In: Simmonds MP, Huchinson JD (eds) The conservation of whales and dolphins: science and practice. Wiley, Chichester, pp 205–217
Rendell LE, Whitehead H (2001) Culture in whales and dolphins. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24:309–382.
Richerson PJ, Boyd R (2005) Not by genes alone: how culture transformed human evolution. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL
Sakai M, Kita YF, Kogi K et al (2016) A wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin adopts a socially and genetically distant neonate. Sci Rep 6:23902. doi:10.1038/srep23902
Shannon G, Slotow R, Durant SM et al (2013) Effects of social disruption in elephants persist decades after culling. Front Zool 10:62. doi:10.1186/1742-9994-10-62
Sih A (2013) Understanding variation in behavioural responses to human-induced rapid environmental change: a conceptual overview. Anim Behav 85:1077–1088. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.02.017
Sih A, Ferrari MCO, Harris DJ (2011) Evolution and behavioural responses to human-induced rapid environmental change. Evol Appl 4:367–387. doi:10.1111/j.1752-4571.2010.00166.x
Silk JB (2007) The adaptive value of sociality in mammalian groups. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 362:539–559. doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.1994
Simmonds MP (2012) Cetaceans and marine debris: the great unknown. J Mar Biol 2012:1–8. doi:10.1155/2012/684279
de Stephanis R, Verborgh P, Pérez S et al (2008) Long-term social structure of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) in the Strait of Gibraltar. Acta Ethol 11:81–94. doi:10.1007/s10211-008-0045-2
Swaddle JP (2003) Fluctuating asymmetry, animal behavior, and evolution. Adv Study Behav 32:169–205. doi:10.1016/S0065-3454(03)01004-0
Thode AM, Wild L, Mathias D et al (2014) A comparison of acoustic and visual metrics of sperm whale longline depredation. J Acoust Soc Am 135:3086–3100. doi:10.1121/1.4869853
Thornton A, Clutton-Brock T (2011) Social learning and the development of individual and group behaviour in mammal societies. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 366:978–987. doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0312
Tomkins JL, Andrews S (2001) Fluctuating asymmetry. Enc Life Sci:1–5. doi:10.1055/s-0031-1275301
Tuomainen U, Candolin U (2011) Behavioural responses to human-induced environmental change. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 86:640–657. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.2010.00164.x
Whitehead H (2008) Analyzing animal societies: quantitative methods for vertebrate social analysis. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL
Whitehead H (2010) Conserving and managing animals that learn socially and share cultures. Learn Behav 38:329–336. doi:10.3758/LB.38.3.329
Whitehead H (2015) Life history evolution: what does a menopausal killer whale do? Curr Biol 25:R225–R227. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.02.002
Whitehead H, Rendell L (2015) The cultural lives of whales and dolphins. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL
Williams R, Lusseau D (2006) A killer whale social network is vulnerable to targeted removals. Biol Lett 2:497–500. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0510
Wilson EO (1975) Sociobiology: the new synthesis. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Brakes, P. (2017). Social Change in Cetacean Populations Resulting from Human Influences. In: Butterworth, A. (eds) Marine Mammal Welfare. Animal Welfare, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46994-2_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46994-2_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46993-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46994-2
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)