Dolphin Watch
Out of the blue
By ANN WEAVER
| Article published on Thursday, April 5, 2007 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/040507_out-01.jpg) |
| Photo by ANN WEAVER |
| Many dolphins get the marks researchers use to identify them during fights between bulls in competition for females. |
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To study animals, you have to know who they are. You have to be able to tell them apart.
When you can tell them apart, you can count them. You can peek into their complex social world. Both are intensely satisfying.
Dolphin behaviorists recognize bottlenose dolphins by unique patterns on dorsal fins (that stick out of the water when they breathe).
Photo identification doesn’t sound easy when counting wood storks, herons, egrets, pelicans or gulls. But we all have the ability to do develop our eyes this way.
Bottlenose dolphins are socially “open” (Specific surprise). They change companions with the dizzying irregularity of people at a huge party. Yet we use body marks to tell them apart. If the dolphins are so socially receptive, why are they covered with scars? What kind of social openness do we mean?
One blissful spring morning, Nature commented with a kind of Pied Piper parade that assembled as a trio of dolphins slowly swelled their numbers six-fold. Peace ended with a punch line, or rather, a long line of punches.
The trio headed from John’s Pass to the backwaters. They slowed and flanked us. Bull DD2 (Ocean Commotion) and female Q (Charming) got their names as we went though the alphabet, naming dolphins with gender-free letters. Lax got her name because her dorsal fin is marked like X’s dorsal fin. In our nomenclature, LA stands for Look Alike. Lax is an acronym for Look Alike X.
Suddenly, the trio sped up to distant dolphins. Face was there with Baby Face, now 7 months old (Cutest little baby face). Slight was there with calf Slight Twin (Those blasted dolphins - not). Slight Twin’s fin is nearly identical to her mother’s subtle marks.
The merge initiated a ripple of socializing. Adults dove and rolled as Slight Twin and Baby Face romped with youthful speed.
Passing an island where they often reverse course, the group added a member. BB, a beat-up bull (Do as I do), chuffed several times, a versatile vocalization that sounds like a cough, but fell into step. The trio swelled to eight dolphins.
At the bridge that splits the study area, the swollen trio paused and milled around. Many dolphins swam on the other side of the bridge. Perhaps the first group paused to listen, identifying the new dolphins and what they were doing.
Anything can happen when dolphin groups meet. Tense groups meet face-to-face. Some groups explode into immediate conflict. Groups can just pass by (Just swinging by). They can mingle into a larger group.
Today, the melding was so smooth, all we saw were several new fins. Cheetah, the biggest dolphin here, swam with Tanks (Rain dance). Tanks is friendly with Face. Sure enough, they joined immediately. Nipple Face, named for the button of skin perched above the silhouette of a face on her fin’s trailing edge, swam with Jagger (Vital signs). Square Bite Tall flitted among them.
That made a baker’s dozen of dolphins, all accomplished without a change of pace. They all seemed sleepy, slowly gliding just under the crystal green surface and rising rhythmically, predictably. Boat captain and photographer had it easy.
Suddenly bulls N (Sea Spats) and Midface appeared. Watch out. The group now included several bulls and available females. Would things explode?
They maintained their mantra-like momentum.
We spied a new trio in the distance, female P (Winning at weaning) with bulls Ouch and Fish Lips (Running with the bulls). The mom group sped in the opposite direction. The other groups sprinted forward. When they converged, everything exploded (Mack is back!).
Fight!
Bodies flung everywhere, shoving and whipping and snapping. The seas frothed. Bulls N and Midface vied against Ouch and Fish Lips for females P and Lax. A bull hauled his bulk over P, sinking her. Another bull torpedoed between them, blasting competitors sideways with great body shoves. Wham. Tails whipped as dolphins wiggled for position or fought to extricate themselves. Bam. Beefy bodies smacked each other with fleshy thuds. Ugghh. Dolphins grabbed competitors’ fins and dragged them underwater. Coastal homeowners flocked to their docks to watch the dogfight. Tellingly, the remaining dolphins did not stay to watch ... this time.
We did stay and watch. Through the window of complex lives, we saw many versions of social “openness” that illustrated how dolphins get those body marks that enable us to study them. Intense, satisfying, yes. But at what cost.
Dr. Weaver studies wild dolphins under federal permit GA1088-1815, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Send her an e-mail at acweaver@tampabay.rr.com or visit www.dazzlingdolphins.com.
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Article published on Thursday, April 5, 2007
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