Contrary Views On Herding Behavior
However, not all biologists agreed that herding females is a successful reproductive tactic—‘or even that it is a common type of behavior. Other research has shown that dolphins seem to have highly complex social orders that vary widely from place to place. For example, captive bottle-nosed dolphins do not form roving gangs. In fact, herding and supergangs have not been documented in any dolphin populations except those in Shark Bay.
Moreover, some studies have revealed that female dolphins have many strategies to control with which male dolphin they will conceive with. Because females dolphins spend three to six years raising a single calf, they tend to be very selective about who sires their offspring. Marine biologists said it would take genetic testing to establish patterns of paternity among the Shark Bay dolphins and evaluate the success of male herding behavior and violence in dolphin reproduction.
Find Your Perfect Pet
Comments ( )