Dolphin Watch
Snorting the engine
By ANN WEAVER
| Article published on Thursday, April 26, 2007 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/042607_out-01.jpg) |
| Photo by ANN WEAVER |
| When dolphins do the strange and appealing behavior of snorting the engine, they are seeking information or sensation. Asian elephants do the same thing when they reach out with the trunk to inspect something. |
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You get this feeling. You turn around. Someone is staring at you.
Just as you know when someone is watching you, other mammals are well aware of being the focus of attention.
Once I watched an elephant at the National Zoo. Chained, she occupied herself by eating short clips of leftover hay off the floor.
She curled the end of her trunk and swept scattered remnants into small neat piles.
With a cupping motion, she fed herself dainty snacks like you popping hors d’oeuvre at a party. I was mesmerized and watched for long time.
When I stood to leave, she started stamping and snorting, only calming when I resumed observation. She was clearly aware that I was watching her ... and acted as if she liked the attention.
Waddles, a pygmy hippo, was hand-raised at the San Diego Zoo. Cousins of giant belligerent river hippos, pygmy hippos are small and secretive. Naturally private, about all we know is they live as mated pairs. Waddles was a darling brown and white striped watermelon but I didn’t think she’d like public attention. Wrong. She worked those crowds. She learned from our 3 p.m. public presentations that the more she behaved, the more I talked, and the longer the crowd stayed. She ultimately developed a series of behaviors that trained me how to give a good pygmy hippo show, reinforced by interaction with admiring audiences.
The least likely teacher was a ring-tailed possum. Gorgeous and delicate, Australian possums (marsupials rather than mammals) are the size of a box of brown sugar with wondrous fur, beautiful faces and the secure grip of prehensile tails. Given their size, they’re prey. Prey species are instinctively inconspicuous. Yet her relaxation correlated positively with audience approval: the greater the admiration, the greater her relaxation.
Animals know when you’re studying them. To see them behave naturally, observation must be comfortable for them. Observers must be a familiar and therefore neutral part of the environment.
At sea with small dolphin groups, we try to minimize our intrusion in several ways.
One way is to present ourselves regularly so the dolphins stop reacting (become habituated). Though this environment is boat-heavy and our “urban dolphin” study subjects were urbane about boats before our study, our efforts pay off.
Another way to become neutral is to watch from a distance and then approach slowly to collect population biology photographic data. That way, we can see if they change as we approach.
Finally, we move around them deliberately. They can move freely because we’re predictable.
Do these efforts give dolphins a chance to study us?
For example, sometimes they pass under the boat very slowly. I may be over-thinking this because they pass under boats all the time. But in 4 feet of water, it’d surely be easier to go around.
An obvious but baffling inspection behavior has the irreverent name of snorting the engine.
Snorting dolphins make a direct aft approach and then raft on the surface for several seconds with their faces a foot from the engine, now in neutral gear.
What are they getting from the engine? Dolphins hear through their lower jaws. In the snorting position, engine vibrations and sounds radiate directly to their ears and possibly through their bodies. Designed for a world of sound and vibration, are they learning our unique signature, luxuriating in a Jacuzzi, or begging? Do the unfortunate dolphins who’ve been turned into beggars elsewhere beg by clustering and staring at outboard motors?
This strange behavior happens when the dolphins are socializing idly. It has several variations. Some snort alone, like the time Twin Dip raised the question of who studies who out there.
Mostly, snorters approach in pairs or trios. In groups, snorting is reminiscent of the marguerite formation used by dolphins and sperm whales that cluster around something interesting like wheel spokes cluster around the hub. Many are young adults, like the three dolphins who snorted us on Feb. 8 during a survey with assistant Carly Pastore. A pair of small dolphins snorted the engine on April Fool’s Day with Captain John Heidemann, a particular rarity because, like hyperactive children, calves seldom behave with calm focus.
The most dramatic snort thus far happened Aug. 23, 2006, when assistant Marie Dahlberg, and I watched five dolphins, including bulls Riptab and BB, lay quietly with their faces inches away from the engine. They would’ve looked like a captive quintet waiting for food at a pool edge except they lay flat with their heads in the water.
Snorting the engine is one of the most appealing behaviors I’ve seen among John’s Pass dolphins do. Do any dolphin trainers out there ever reward behavior with vibrations?
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.
Related stories:
Who studies who, Just Swinging By, Smothering mothering, Those blasted dolphins – not, Do as I Do, Mystery at MacDonald’s
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Article published on Thursday, April 26, 2007
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