[MARMAM] New Paper: Spatial and Social Sexual Segregation of bottlenose dolphins in an estuary

[Christine Fury]

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the new publication on sexual segregation 
of dolphins in estuaries using GIS data. The paper can be freely 
accessed on PLoS ONE using the follow link 
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0052987

Citation: Fury CA, Ruckstuhl KE, Harrison PL (2013) Spatial and 
Social Sexual Segregation Patterns in Indo-Pacific Bottlenose 
Dolphins (Tursiops aduncus). PLoS ONE 8(1): e52987. 
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052987.


Abstract

Sexual segregation seems to be common in bottlenose dolphins, whereby 
males and females live in different pods that mix mainly for mating. 
Male dolphins often use aggressive behaviour to mate with females, 
while females with calves may have different activity and dietary 
requirements to males and different susceptibility to predation. We 
investigated the degree of spatial and social sexual segregation in 
Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in a subtropical 
estuary in Australia. Based on surveys completed over three years, 
dolphin groups were mostly mixed-sex or female. Mixed-sex groups were 
found in larger groups in mostly deeper water, whereas, female groups 
were foraging across all water depths in smaller groups. Aggressive 
coercive behaviour by males towards females was high, occurring 
mainly in deeper water, at higher tides, and outside the breeding 
season. Habitat use by female dolphin groups suggests that shallow 
tributaries may provide a sanctuary from aggressive males, access to 
suitable prey items and density for mothers and their calves, or a 
combination of these factors.

Enjoy.

Christine Fury PhD
Ecologist
Kingston, Hobart, TASMANIA 7050
Webpage: http://independent.academia.edu/CFury/About
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