Communication Mechanisms between Two Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in a Cooperative Echoic Matching-to-Sample Task
Date of Award
2007
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Social Sciences
Second Department
Natural Sciences
First Advisor
Harley, Heidi
Keywords
Dolphin, Animal Communication, Echolocation
Area of Concentration
Biological Psychology
Abstract
This study investigated the possible communication mechanisms used by two bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) participating in a larger study involving a cooperative echolocation matching-to-sample task. The larger study investigated the ability of one eye-cupped dolphin, the Sample dolphin, to transfer information about a sample object to a second eyecupped dolphin, the Choice dolphin, that had not investigated the sample but had to choose the object identical to the sample from a three alternative array. This basic procedure was referred to as the Standard Cooperative condition. Reinforcement for both dolphins was dependent on a correct choice. Both dolphins performed both roles (sampler and chooser). Hydrophones present in the pool recorded vocalizations during the1rials. The dolphins performed the cooperative task in six different conditions. Acoustical analyses revealed that the Standard Cooperative condition contained more clicks than three of the other conditions. Because the Sample dolphin did not face the choice object array in most ofthese conditions, this finding implied that the Sample dolphin emitted the majority of the clicks during the cooperative task while the Choice dolphin stayed fairly quiet. Further analysis confinued this result. Apparently, the Sample dolphin was pointing a beam of echolocation at the correct object, and the Choice dolphin was able to choose an object based on which object in the array was being ensonified by the echolocation beam of the Sample dolphin.
Recommended Citation
Vennare, Amanda, "Communication Mechanisms between Two Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in a Cooperative Echoic Matching-to-Sample Task" (2007). Theses & ETDs. 3874.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/3874
Rights
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