Current Issue

Dudzinski, K. M., Themelin, M., & Hill, H. M. (2026). The influence of dolphin offspring to a social group. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 13(2), 165-183.  https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.13.02.04.2026

Managed care facilities are confronted with many challenges when caring for animals. One of them is balancing the possibility for a species to express its natural behavioral repertoire, and being able to reproduce, with the constraint of available space for the social group. Recent reproductive bans for cetaceans in managed care have been implemented without considering the effects of a calf birth to a social group. Our goal was to investigate whether the presence of pre-weaned calves in a social group influenced activity level and engagement among group members, including but not limited to the mother(s). When pre-weaned calves were present, larger dolphin groups were observed with spacing among members dependent upon calf age; groups with younger calves exhibited tighter clusters whereas groups with older calves were loosely spaced. Also, more diverse behaviors, inter-individual contacts, intensity of exchange(s), and number of individuals involved were documented for groups with pre-weaned calves. These results support the notion that presence of one or more pre-weaned calves enhances the overall well-being and welfare of a dolphin social group as not only mothers but also other individuals in the group join calves to engage in behavioral exchanges that increases group size and diversity and intensity in activity level(s).

Offspring, Calf, Social Group, Dolphins, Influence, Tursiops truncatus