Dear MARMAM
list members,
My co-authors and I are pleased to announce our recent open-access publication in Current Biology entitled **Spatially-coordinated predation with
division of labor increases feeding success in killer whales**.
Link to the
Publication: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982225007456
Abstract
Group
hunting is widespread among large vertebrates and is known to confer considerable
advantages compared to foraging alone. Yet, the mechanisms underlying group
hunting, including how social predators are organized during a hunt, are
largely unknown for marine predators. Using drone videos, which enabled us to
record the motion patterns of multiple individuals at once, we tracked the
predatory behaviour of killer whales along the Norwegian coast to test the
hypothesis that group hunting is organised in space, both in terms of
individual roles and interactions with conspecifics. Taking advantage of
shallow water hunts that reduced the interactions to a 2D horizontal plane, we
reveal that whales using underwater tail slaps (i.e., strikers) to stun
and capture herring, are more likely to hunt near a neighbour (i.e., a helper)
rather than alone, and such joint slaps show higher feeding success
(measured as feeding bout duration) than alone slaps. At the onset of a joint
slap, the position of the whales follows a specific geometrical pattern.
Whales preferentially take roles as strikers or helpers, with
division of labour determined by size: larger individuals predominantly act as strikers
in line with their higher feeding success, compared to smaller whales.
Individuals involved in joint slaps have preferred partners, with
whom
they share multi-decadal social bonds, likely allowing repeated
opportunities
to practice and learn to bestow enhanced geometric positioning and
hunting success. These findings highlight the importance of social
organization, long-term bonding, and developmental learning in the
cooperative hunting of marine mammals.
Feel free to reach out
if any questions or comments:
paolo.domenici@cnr.it or evejourdain@yahoo.fr
Best wishes,