Bottle Nosed Dolphins Lab Report
Introduction:
Every species on this earth has the ability to sense and to survive; and in their own unique way, they communicate with the world around them. Mammals, overall, are able to communicate using vocal signals, body gestures, and chemical signals; more precisely, within the great depths of the seas, there are mammals that are able to use other ways to communicate such as sonar and song. Mammals such as the Orca, Bottle-Nosed Dolphins as well as many other species of dolphins, and different types of Whales are able to use their voices under water to detect and “speak” to other conspecifics. This range can reach distances over miles and miles away, and can also be influenced by the distance at which these different species are from …show more content…
each other. Specific signatures and ranges of these communicative songs are looked at more in depth for the dolphin Tursiops truncatus, the killer whale Orcinus orca and the humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae. Review: Several articles outline scientists’ methods to explore and comprehend the communication that occurs under the sea for mammals that live there. For toothed whales, sonar and echolocation are essential for determining location, finding food and communicating to other conspecifics. Songs and clicks made by these mammals are still a mystery to many scientists and the only proper way to gather more information about underwater whale communication seems to be acoustic analysis of the sounds made (Rudiger and Volker, 2011). Research has been conducted testing several hypotheses of different ideas involving whale communication. One study focuses on the distance echolocation can travel and whether the clutter around the environment can affect the strength of sonar. Another study shows how each song made from a whale is a hierarchal pattern in which different notes are used in multiple ways almost like sentence structures used by humans. A third study focuses on the interactions between two different orca families and how each has specific clicks and languages that the other groups do not use which shows that it has a cultural basis and is not the same for every species or even the different groups within one species. For the strength of the sonar, parameters were established and calibrated to receive sonar and record the intensity over a specified time limit.
For the song analysis experiment done by Mecado and Handel (2012), spectrograms of the songs from the whales were gathered and analyzed to depict themes and repetitive patterns that would show there is a hierarchal trend in the song. To determine behavior by analyzing whistles in the orca groups, hours of recordings where analyzed to pick up any differences and discrepancies in the whistles.
For the experiment involving bottlenose dolphins and their range abilities with interference from clutter in the water (Frants and Bejder,2010), noise levels and environmental noise had to be recorded to collect sufficient data.
Synchronized hydrophones were used to record the whitsles of the dolphins and their range seemed to be lower than estimated.
Another experiment tests whether or not killer whale predation affects the vocalization of different types of dolphins. Whistles, which can propagate over several kilometers, may be necessary to retain group cohesion. This type of long distance communication may also serve as a dinner bell to any killer whales in the area, and our results show that these dolphins were less likely to be vocal in the presence of killer whales (Rankin, Archer, and Barlow, 2013).
For the final experiment with the divergence of signatures in song communication between whale groups done by Rudiger and Volker in 2011, the signal signatures were classified based on spectrographic contour and stereotypy. The final results indicate that there is indeed difference between the communication signals of one group from another group. Each whale family has their own cultural aspects of song and communication that they
use.
Summary of Data:
The results of all the experiments show similar comparisons with the communication of underwater mammals. Under the sea, communication is essential to survive for the social based mammals. Conspecifics of each species need distinct ways to communicate with each other, so these species have developed highly effective ways to converse. Through long range sonar and echolocation, signal songs that act as a type of language with structures of repetition and meaning, decreasing vocalization around predators, and cultural signatures that only certain groups can detect or understand- these highly evolved creatures have mastered the ways of underwater communication needed for their growth and survival.
Every species on this earth has the ability to sense and to survive; and in their own unique way, they communicate with the world around them. Mammals, overall, are able to communicate using vocal signals, body gestures, and chemical signals; more precisely, within the great depths of the seas, there are mammals that are able to use other ways to communicate such as sonar and song. Mammals such as the Orca, Bottle-Nosed Dolphins as well as many other species of dolphins, and different types of Whales are able to use their voices under water to detect and “speak” to other conspecifics. This range can reach distances over miles and miles away, and can also be influenced by the distance at which these different species are from …show more content…
each other. Specific signatures and ranges of these communicative songs are looked at more in depth for the dolphin Tursiops truncatus, the killer whale Orcinus orca and the humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae. Review: Several articles outline scientists’ methods to explore and comprehend the communication that occurs under the sea for mammals that live there. For toothed whales, sonar and echolocation are essential for determining location, finding food and communicating to other conspecifics. Songs and clicks made by these mammals are still a mystery to many scientists and the only proper way to gather more information about underwater whale communication seems to be acoustic analysis of the sounds made (Rudiger and Volker, 2011). Research has been conducted testing several hypotheses of different ideas involving whale communication. One study focuses on the distance echolocation can travel and whether the clutter around the environment can affect the strength of sonar. Another study shows how each song made from a whale is a hierarchal pattern in which different notes are used in multiple ways almost like sentence structures used by humans. A third study focuses on the interactions between two different orca families and how each has specific clicks and languages that the other groups do not use which shows that it has a cultural basis and is not the same for every species or even the different groups within one species. For the strength of the sonar, parameters were established and calibrated to receive sonar and record the intensity over a specified time limit.
For the song analysis experiment done by Mecado and Handel (2012), spectrograms of the songs from the whales were gathered and analyzed to depict themes and repetitive patterns that would show there is a hierarchal trend in the song. To determine behavior by analyzing whistles in the orca groups, hours of recordings where analyzed to pick up any differences and discrepancies in the whistles.
For the experiment involving bottlenose dolphins and their range abilities with interference from clutter in the water (Frants and Bejder,2010), noise levels and environmental noise had to be recorded to collect sufficient data.
Synchronized hydrophones were used to record the whitsles of the dolphins and their range seemed to be lower than estimated.
Another experiment tests whether or not killer whale predation affects the vocalization of different types of dolphins. Whistles, which can propagate over several kilometers, may be necessary to retain group cohesion. This type of long distance communication may also serve as a dinner bell to any killer whales in the area, and our results show that these dolphins were less likely to be vocal in the presence of killer whales (Rankin, Archer, and Barlow, 2013).
For the final experiment with the divergence of signatures in song communication between whale groups done by Rudiger and Volker in 2011, the signal signatures were classified based on spectrographic contour and stereotypy. The final results indicate that there is indeed difference between the communication signals of one group from another group. Each whale family has their own cultural aspects of song and communication that they
use.
Summary of Data:
The results of all the experiments show similar comparisons with the communication of underwater mammals. Under the sea, communication is essential to survive for the social based mammals. Conspecifics of each species need distinct ways to communicate with each other, so these species have developed highly effective ways to converse. Through long range sonar and echolocation, signal songs that act as a type of language with structures of repetition and meaning, decreasing vocalization around predators, and cultural signatures that only certain groups can detect or understand- these highly evolved creatures have mastered the ways of underwater communication needed for their growth and survival.