Dolphin Watch
Chain reaction of attraction
By ANN WEAVER
Article published on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008  |
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| Photo by ANN WEAVER |
| Older and more agile, young bottlenose dolphin Juno plops down on Dose in a spy-hop gone bad. Their play literally rocked the seas. |
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There are a lot of boats on the water these days, irresistibly drawn to the last shimmering, simmering moments of summer. August and September are tough at sea. It’s the hottest time of year. If you’re outside, it’s best to be on a boat. If you’re on a boat, it’s best to be moving. Otherwise, it’s a good replacement for a sauna.
For the bottlenose dolphins that inhabit these waters, August and September is social high season. More dolphins find their way into our waters than at any other time of year. This makes for a rocking time.
No pun intended, since new baby dolphins never rock in a cradle like human babies do although they may well be rocked to sleep in the gentle currents of snoozing swims at mom’s side. But they still manage to rock, and knock, and clock each other when they meet.
In the Dolphin Watch story Oldest of the Youngest, I suggested that new calf Juno’s scant lead in age over the other calves born this summer might position it to lead the pack in calf development. As Juno enters the various developmental stages ahead of the other calves, it seems to propel them forward in their own development.
It propels other rocking, knocking and clocking developments as well.
Stages of dolphin development are marked by a calf’s tendency to repeat a small set of specific behaviors over and over, not unlike our own children. Like young monkeys and chimps, young dolphins experiment with these behaviors as if to see how they work.
Recently, Juno and mom J meandered off a long straight shoreline. Juno, all of three months old now, was experimenting with its tailstock. It repeatedly performed spy-hops (vertical ascents that need a hefty shove from the tailstock) and tail slaps. When a dolphin tail slaps, it raises its tailstock over the water and whacks it back down on the surface. Like a good golf swing, they’re hard to learn. Juno worked on the baby version, which is more of a tail “flip” than slap. Juno raised its tailstock to tail slap but curled it so high over the water, its little body took the shape of the letter C lying on its back! Older dolphins do not tail flip like this and may lack the admirable elasticity the posture requires.
Juno wasn’t experimenting alone. Little Dose, a month younger than Juno, served as assistant. Juno plopped down on Dose from a spy-hop gone badly or, more agile, raced ahead and flicked Dose’s face with its flukes - the classic quiet riot of calves at play. They literally rocked the seas.
Calves at play are magnetic, so it was hard to scan the surrounding waters to keep a general lookout. Dose is Leading Dent’s calf, left to play while mother hunted nearby. J babysat. She did a first-rate job, too, stoutly staying between the boat and the babies throughout. That fin in the distance was presumably Leading Dent.
It should be so easy.
One by one, dolphins headed over to J and her riotous charges until they made a baker’s dozen. It was dolphin high season all right. The seas went from simmer to seethe.
The first was Leading Dent. The two mother-calf pairs formed a tight group and headed north.
Next, Grin’s big unmistakable fin zoomed after them. Around for the last couple of weeks, he works the waters in concert with another big bull Twin Dip. Such bonded bulls are capably competitive. Twin Dip hovered on the periphery until Grin started punching.
Next appeared the magnet, available female Stick. She swam up with local bull N. N is an unbonded bull but has working relationships with many other bulls in the area. It meant he might or might not have anyone on his side should a fight break out. Face and her two-year-old Babyface swam with them. These dolphins know each other well.
Next came a second bonded bull pair, Ouch and Fishlips. It was good to see them. John’s Pass has been on their summer circuit for the last several years.
It created a chain reaction of attraction. Still charmed by experimentation, the calves were riveted on each other. Babysitter J stuck to them like glue. The calves lured in young adult Student, who appeared out of nowhere. Student’s attention to the calves baited Stick, who likes calves and challenged Student for access to them. This ensnared bulls N, Ouch and Fishlips, who hovered around Stick. The bulls’ proximity to Stick pulled in the other two bulls Grin and Twin Dip.
Grin couldn’t stand it anymore. He blasted through the nursery, shoving the calves dramatically with his considerable bulk. Ignition!
Face to face, it was two against three. As dolphins do, disappointingly, the bulls disappeared in a slurry of splashing. Their subsurface negotiations were short-lived but decisive. Hand-off. Ouch and Fishlips left immediately, this time. N wandered nearby, perhaps torn; he and Stick go back a long way. He eventually vanished, leaving Stick to trail the alluring nursery group sandwiched between Grin and Twin Dip. The babies played on.
Postscript. In terms of dolphin social psychology, it was of great interest to me that Babyface, the lone surviving calf for the last two years and raised without an age mate, did not play with the calves this day.
Dr. Weaver studies wild dolphins under federal permit GA1088-1815, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Send her an e-mail at aweaver@argosy.edu or visit www.dazzlingdolphins.com.
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Article published on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008
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