Dear MARMAM colleagues,
Over the years
the peculiar head-standing behaviour
often displayed by Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) has
caught the
interest of researchers and members of the public who have
witnessed it. This
behaviour consists of the animal standing for a period of time
(varying from a
few seconds to several minutes) in a vertical position with the
head underwater
(~ 1/3
of the body
length) and the tail out of the water (~ 2/3
of
the body length). With very few exceptions there is almost no
information
available in the literature on this behaviour other than the
reporting of its existence.
Various hypotheses
have been suggested to try to explain the behaviour, including
reaction to distress
(either natural or human related), communication, resting,
thermoregulation,
etc. but no specific study has been carried out.
We are currently
collecting information about the presence/absence and frequency
of the
head-standing behaviour in Risso's dolphins in different areas
of the world and would
like to gather as much information as possible from far and
wide.
On behalf of my
co-authors and myself, I hereby wish to ask the MARMAM community
to contribute
to this research by completing a simple questionnaire which we
have prepared.
The only requirement to contribute is that Risso's dolphins are
encountered
(with ANY frequency) during your activity at sea (e.g.
whale-watching, land
survey, etc.). The presence of the head-standing behaviour is
NOT a requirement
– to the contrary, we are very interested to find out whether
only certain
populations display the behaviour.
As we cannot attach the questionnaire to this MARMAM email, if you are interested in participating please do not hesitate to contact us (Marina Costa: marinza.costa@gmail.com, Elisa Remonato: e.remonato@gmail.com) and request the questionnaire along with which we will also provide the terms of the collaboration.
Many thanks in advance for your help and interest!
We will keep the MARMAM community posted about any news and development of this project.
My dearest wishes
Marina Costa
-- Marina Costa PhD Student Sea Mammal Research Unit Scottish Oceans Institute University of St Andrews St Andrews KY16 8LB Scotland mc76@st-andrews.ac.uk marinza.costa@gmail.com Skype: costa_marina