July 2022 - MARMAM - devlists.uvic.ca

New Article Submission for the MARMAM Digest
by Ham, Jackson 02 Jul '22

02 Jul '22

To the MARMAM community: We are pleased to share our new article, which was recently published in Behavioural Processes: Ham, J.R., Lilley, M.K., Lelekach, J., Miller, M.R., Robeck, T.R., Pellis, S.M., & Manitzas Hill, H.M. (2022). The emergence and early development of socio-sexual behavior in beluga calves (Delphinapterus leucas). Behavioural Processes, 200, 104695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104695 Abstract: While the ontogeny of beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) socio-sexual behavior has been documented in animals between 37- and 108-months-old, the first 36 months of life are yet to be examined. This study investigated how socio-sexual behaviors emerge over the first three years of life in a group of belugas in managed care. The emergence of socio-sexual behaviors was relatively consistent among immature animals. More complex behaviors, like s-posture presentations, developed in a piecemeal fashion (i.e., simple components of the behavior sequence emerged before complex components). The presence of an adult male significantly predicted if immature belugas would initiate and participate in socio-sexual behavior. However, partner preferences changed with age. In the first year of life, belugas engaged in sexual behavior with their mother most frequently but preferred to play with older males if given a choice. By the third year of life, belugas engaged in socio-sexual behavior most frequently with other immature animals. These findings enhance our understanding of how belugas develop sexually and socially and have implications for social housing practices of immature belugas. Please do not hesitate to email us if you have any questions. Best, Jackson & co-authors Jackson R. Ham, M.Sc. Ph.D. Student Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience Department of Neuroscience University of Lethbridge jackson.r.ham(a)gmail.com

1 0

[New Publication] Bottlenose dolphin communication during a role-specialized group foraging task
by Rebecca Hamilton 01 Jul '22

01 Jul '22

Dear Marmam readers, My co-authors and I are pleased to share our new publication, available Open Access in the journal Behavioural Processes. Rebecca A. Hamilton, Stefanie K. Gazda, Stephanie L. King, Josefin Starkhammar, Richard C. Connor, Bottlenose dolphin communication during a role-specialized group foraging task, Behavioural Processes, Volume 200, 2022, 104691, ISSN 0376-6357, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104691. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635722001085) Abstract: A division of labor with role specialization is defined as individuals specializing in a subtask during repetitions of a group task. While this behavior is ubiquitous among humans, there are only four candidates found among non-eusocial mammals: lions, mice, chimpanzees, and bottlenose dolphins. Bottlenose dolphins in the Cedar Keys, Florida, engage in role specialized “driver-barrier feeding”, where a “driver” dolphin herds mullet towards “barrier” dolphins. Thus trapped, the mullet leap out of the water where the dolphins catch them in air. To investigate whether dolphins use acoustic cues or signals to coordinate this behavior, vocalizations were recorded before and during driver-barrier feeding. Results of fine-scale audio and video analysis during 81 events by 7 different driver individuals suggest that barrier animals coordinate movements during these events by cueing on the driver’s echolocation. Analysis of dolphin whistle occurrence before driving events versus another foraging technique, which does not involve role specialization, revealed significantly higher whistle production immediately prior to driver-barrier events. Possible whistle functions include signaling motivation, recruiting individuals to participate, and/or behavioral coordination. While the use of cues and signals is common in humans completing role-specialized tasks, this is the first study to investigate the use of vocalizations in the coordination of a role-specialized behavior in a non-human mammal. The full text is available Open Access at the following link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104691 For any queries, please email: Rebecca.hamilton-5(a)postgrad.manchester.ac.uk Best wishes, Becca Hamilton ___________________________________________________________________ PhD Student, University of Manchester Field Manager, Cedar Key Dolphin Project MSc in Biology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Twitter: @BeccaAHamilton <http://twitter.com/BeccaAHamilton> | Website: www.rahamilton.weebly.com <https://www.cedarkeydolphinproject.org/>

1 0

Job opportunity: Stranding Veterinary Technician
by Alexander M. Costidis 01 Jul '22

01 Jul '22

Dear colleagues, We are writing to make you aware that the Virginia Aquarium is hiring a veterinary technician for our marine mammal and sea turtle Stranding Response Program. We are a long standing program actively engaged in stranding response, rehabilitation, and necropsy and seek candidates with a keen interest in all of those dimensions. To obtain more details or apply, please visit the City of Virginia Beach website below. https://phg.tbe.taleo.net/phg02/ats/careers/v2/viewRequisition?org=VBGOV&cw… Kind regards, Alex Alexander M. Costidis, Ph.D. Senior Scientist Stranding Response & Biomedical Research Phone: +1 (757) 385-6482 Cell: +1 (727) 543-6263 Email: ACostidi(a)VirginiaAquarium.com<mailto:Email@VirginiaAquarium.com> Stranding Response Hotline: (757) 385- 7575 Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center<http://www.virginiaaquarium.com/> 717 General Booth Blvd. Virginia Beach, Virginia 23451, USA [cid:342dcebf-83c5-426d-83ca-cf08d096bb60]

1 0

New publication on Cuvier's beaked whale dive classifications
by David Sweeney 01 Jul '22

01 Jul '22

Dear marmam community, My co-authors and I are pleased to announce the publication of our recent research article: Sweeney DA, Schorr GS, Falcone EA, Rone BK and others (2022) Cuvier’s beaked whale foraging dives identified via machine learning using depth and triaxial acceleration. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 692:195-208. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14068 The paper is open access and can be downloaded from: https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v692/p195-208/ Abstract: Knowledge of Cuvier’s beaked whale Ziphius cavirostris behavior has expanded through the utilization of animal-borne tags. However, many tag types do not record sound — thus preventing echolocation click detections to identify foraging — or have short deployments that sample a limited range of behaviors. As the quantity of such non-acoustic tag data grows, so too does the need for robust methods of detecting foraging from non-acoustic data. We used 692 dives from 5 sound-recording tags on Cuvier’s beaked whales in southern California, USA, to develop extreme gradient boosting tree models to detect foraging based on 1 Hz depth and 16 Hz triaxial acceleration data. We performed repeated 10-fold cross validation using classification accuracy to tune 500 models with randomly partitioned training and testing datasets. An average of 99.9 and 99.2% of training and testing dataset dives, respectively, were correctly classified across the 500 models. Dives without associated sound recordings (n = 2069 from 7 whales including 4 non-acoustic tags) were classified via a model that maximized training information using dive depth and duration, ascent and descent rates, bottom-phase average vertical speed, and roll circular variance during dive descents and bottom phases. Of all long, deep dives (conventionally assumed to include foraging), 2.4% were classified as non-foraging dives, while 0.3% of short, shallow dives were classified as foraging dives. Results confirm that conventional depth and/or duration classifiers provide reasonable estimates of longer-term foraging patterns. However, additional variables previously listed enhance foraging detections for unusual dives (notably non-foraging deep dives) for southern California Cuvier’s beaked whales. Do not hesitate to email me with any questions. Best, David Sweeney -- David Sweeney, Research Assistant Marine Ecology and Telemetry Research 2468 Camp McKenzie Trail NW, Seabeck WA 98380-4513 dsweeney(a)marecotel.org | 224-804-7754 www.marecotel.org Follow MarEcoTel on Facebook, <https://www.facebook.com/marecotel/> Twitter <https://twitter.com/marecotel>, and Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/marecotel/>

1 0

New book about polar bear conservation
by Morten Jørgensen 01 Jul '22

01 Jul '22

Dear All. I hereby announce the publication of the book: *POLAR BEARS, Beloved & Betrayed*, published June 2022, and available at: https://www.polarbearsbelovedandbetrayed.com/ The relationship between humans and polar bears is complex. The human approach includes fascination, admiration, respect, concern, and benevolence - but also misunderstanding, fear, greed, over-exploitation, and mismanagement. On the background of sustainable co-existence which had lasted millennia, during the last few centuries humans have become a major factor negatively affecting the polar bear through environmental degradation and over-hunting. While almost all informed parties acknowledge climate change / global warming as a threat to polar bear survival into the future, and quite consistently refer to that as ‘the major threat’ – the vast majority of stakeholders also overlook the threat of over-exploitation. Human interests of a varied assortment, from commercial over political to individual, lead to a skewed perception of the state of the polar bear and what can be done to prevent its extirpation. The special status occupied by polar bears in human imagination and affection stands in stark contrast with the current management regime, which threatens the very existence of the animal. Recognizing *all* the human caused threats to polar bear survival is crucial, and is also key to making the necessary policy changes in time. Informing the public is the first step in such a recognition, and this book of 208 pages (including nearly 100 photographs) is one contribution to that effect. *Table of contents:* INTRODUCTION: SETTING THE SCENE CHAPTER 1: BASIC POLAR BEAR BIOLOGY CHAPTER 2: THREATS TO POLAR BEARS CHAPTER 3: HUNTING AND COMMERCIALISATION CHAPTER 4: THE POLAR BEAR POPULATION CHAPTER 5: FAILED MANAGEMENT CHAPTER 6: THE ABSENCE OF CONSERVATION CHAPTER 7: INUIT IDENTITY CHAPTER 8: PERSPECTIVES AND SOLUTIONS EPILOGUE Thank you. Morten Joergensen

1 0