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Aggressive Behaviors Of Adult Male Atlantic Spotted Dolphins (Stenella frontalis) During Intraspecific And Interspecific Aggressive Interactions

Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops
truncatus) are two sympatric species resident to the Bahamas. The visibility of the
Bahamian water provided a unique opportunity to study spotted dolphin communication
during aggression. This study’s main focus was to decipher any similarities or differences
in the behaviors used by spotted dolphins during interspecific and intraspecific
aggression. Both similarities and differences were discovered. Biting, following, and
chasing behavioral events were used more during interspecific aggression, while the
display behavioral class was used more than the contact behavioral class during intrabut
not interspecific aggression. This study showed that spotted dolphins use more energy
intensive and risky behaviors when fighting interspecifically. This could result from
having to fight and defend females from a larger species, trying to avoid sexual
harassment from bottlenose males, or needing to use behaviors that are more overt and easily understood during interspecies communication. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_33497
ContributorsVolker, Cassandra L. (author), Herzing, Denise L. (Thesis advisor), Hughes, Colin (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
PublisherFlorida Atlantic University
Source SetsFlorida Atlantic University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text
Format117 p., application/pdf
RightsCopyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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