Shark Bay, Australia: It’s located on the far western edge of the continent, where the arid Australian outback meets the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean. Named a World Heritage site in 1991, this colorful landscape covers more area than New Jersey and is home to a profusion of plants and animals, some of which are found nowhere else on Earth. It is here that UC San Diego graduate student Whitney Friedman conducts research on male bottlenose dolphins.
Friedman, who majored in cognitive science as an undergraduate at UC San Diego, is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in the subject. She is working with cognitive scientists Edwin Hutchins and Christine Johnson to advance the study of non-human cognition through observation in nature. While bottlenose dolphins are common throughout the world, Shark Bay is unique in that it is home to a very dense population of dolphins year-round—which makes it an ideal place to study the marine mammals.
“Dr. Richard Connor, from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, has studied the dolphins at Shark Bay for nearly 30 years now,” says Friedman. “There is a solid understanding of social structure among males and a fair understanding of male-male relationships. But critical information on social relationships is still missing. We’ve just barely scratched the surface in our understanding of their social interactions.”
Friedman has spent the last two summers working with Connor to document the behavior of adult male bottlenose dolphins as they compete for mates within a complex system of multi-layered alliances. For example, one pair, or even a trio, of male dolphins will work together to sequester females during the mating season. Called a “first-order alliance” this team may then work with other first-order alliances to take females from other males and defend against such attacks. This constitutes a second-order alliance. A third-order alliance arises when two second-order alliances team up and cooperate against other males in competition for females.
“What makes this so fascinating is that this structure is readily observable, yet incredibly dynamic,” says Friedman.
She explains that while some relationships are stable year after year, others seem to be in flux—perhaps as a result of males working to form stable alliances with higher mating success.
“These dolphins appear to be acting strategically,” she says. “This applies to long-term investments with reproductive benefits as well as short-term events such as challenging another group. In many ways, this society may be more similar to our own than any other species.”
Friedman’s research aims to address fundamental questions about how these relationships are maintained. As part of the study, she and her colleagues use a combination of aerial and boat-based video along with underwater acoustic recordings and behavioral observations to take a closer look at how these complex alliances are negotiated through the use of petting, synchrony and coordinated activity.
The research often necessitates long days spent at sea, weather permitting.
“Life at Shark Bay is determined by the wind,” says Friedman. “On a typical day there, I wake up before sunrise to check the weather.”
If it’s calm and there’s no wind, the researchers will go out to sea to observe the dolphins. If it’s windy, they stay in camp and run data or complete other tasks.
“The wind and whitecaps make it nearly impossible to see dolphins,” she explains.
While observation of the dolphins is critical to the research, the use of digital data sources—such as the HD aerial video (“We rig a camera to hang from a kite,” she says)—and the acoustic recordings is very important. These tools not only enable detailed evaluation of particular aspects of dolphin behavior but also provide the distinct advantage of capturing the dynamics of interaction patterns through time.
“Historically, comparisons between cetaceans and primates have been hindered by the near impossibility of collecting similar quality and quantity of data in an aquatic environment,” says Friedman. “In addition to contributing to the scientific understanding of cetacean behavior and cognition, our results will facilitate key comparative analyses.”
She continues: “This is critical for understanding the evolution of human cognition as well as cognitive diversity throughout the animal kingdom.”
Friedman is hoping to complete 16 months of research from September 2012 to December 2013 but the amount of time she will be able to spend on research depends on the funding she receives. At minimum, she needs to go back to Shark Bay for at least two more seasons.
Once she completes her research and dissertation, which she expects to do by 2014, she plans to continue studying non-human cognition in the wild as an academic researcher.
“I’ve been very fortunate to be able to study animal cognition through the mentorship of Dr. Hutchins and Dr. Johnson,” she says. “There is such a unique, supportive group of people here at UC San Diego. I’m looking forward to using what I’ve learned to help make a difference in the world.”
If you would like to learn more about cognitive science and studying cognition in the wild, please join us for the next Social Sciences Supper Club featuring Edwin Hutchins, professor of Cognitive Science. The Supper Club takes place Wednesday, May 16 at 5:30 p.m. in the Atkinson Pavilion, UC San Diego Faculty Club. For more information, contact Marcie Marsh at 858-246-0372 or mmarsh@ucsd.edu.
