Dear All, We are placed to announce our new publication: King S.L., Guarino E., Donegan K., Hecksher J., Jaakkola, K. (2016) Further insights into postpartum signature whistle use in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Marine Mammal Science. DOI: 10.1111/mms.12317 Summary: Individual vocal signatures play an important role in facilitating maternal care in many animals. In those species where neonates are precocial immediately following parturition, the need for individual recognition between mother and offspring is paramount. In bottlenose dolphins such acoustic recognition signals, termed signature whistles, have been shown to be pivotal in mother-offspring recognition. Here we explored how female bottlenose dolphins used their signature whistle in the weeks leading up to and following the birth of their calves. We show that females significantly increased signature whistle production immediately after the birth of their female calves (LMER, P < 0.0001). Average signature whistle rate increased from 0.14 whistles/min to 0.78 whistles/min, representing a > five-fold increase in postpartum signature whistle production, with rates remaining high for four weeks after birth. Our findings complement those of Fripp and Tyack (2008), and offer further support to the imprinting hypothesis, where calves imprint on their mothers’ signature whistles immediately after parturition. The increase in maternal signature whistle use facilitates the calf’s recognition of its mother’s call before mother-calf separations occur. These results highlight the importance of postpartum signature whistle use in aiding mother-calf recognition in bottlenose dolphins and provide insight into one of the underlying mechanisms that aids mother-offspring recognition in species with precocial young. You can access the paper here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.12317/full Or email me directly for a copy: stephanie.king@uwa.edu.au<mailto:stephanie.king@uwa.edu.au> cheers, Stephanie ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stephanie L. King, PhD Society in Science - Branco Weiss Fellow Centre for Evolutionary Biology School of Animal Biology University of Western Australia 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009 Ph +61 864881773 (W) +61 447 265840 (M) www.sharkbaydolphins.org<http://www.sharkbaydolphins.org> [cid:EA808840-1096-4F91-BFF3-9187312B10F9] Please visit my homepage<http://www.slking.weebly.com> to find out more about my research. “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” — Jack Kerouac
