for their continuing support of the Southern Right Whale Project/Chile and the Global Greengrants Fund for funding the project. We would also like to thank Carole Carlson, Katherine Ralls, Vicky Rowntree, Mariano
Sironi, and two anonymous reviewers for their improvements to the note. Note added in proof: After the paper was accepted we learned of another sighting in central Chile. On 9 September 2011, a mother with calf was sighted and photographed off Viña del Mar (33°01′S ; 71°35′W; Pers. Comm. Sarah Allen, Ocean and Coastal Resources VX-809 purchase Program, Pacific West Region, National Park Service, 495 Jefferson Street, San Francisco, CA 94123, March 2013). “
“Fission-fusion dynamics seem to reflect individual decisions as well as temporal and spatial variations in the organization of groups of the same species. To understand the group dynamics of the Guiana dolphin, Sotalia guianensis, at Pipa Bay, Brazil, we investigated the three dimensions of a fission-fusion social system: (1) variation in spatial cohesion, (2) variation in party size, and (3) variation in party composition. Sampling took
place from December 2007 to February 2009 over 176 d and we analyzed the behavioral patterns of 658 groups. Within subgroups, animals remained cohesive, particularly in groups of adults and calves. Greater cohesion was also observed during resting and fission-fusion rates were higher during milling and feeding. Groups composed of adults and juveniles showed a higher dynamics index (group size variation as a function of time) than groups composed only of adults and the fission-fusion buy LY2109761 rate was higher during dry periods. Guiana dolphin groups frequently changed their group size and composition every 20 min on Tau-protein kinase average. Taking these factors into consideration, we suggest that the Guiana dolphin demonstrates fission-fusion dynamics, a pattern of behavior similar to what has been observed in other coastal odontocete species, such as Tursiops spp. and Lagenorhynchus obscurus. “
“Killer whales produce
repertoires of stereotyped call types that are primarily transmitted vertically through social learning, leading to dialects between sympatric pods. The potential function of these call repertoires remains untested. In this study, we compared the reaction of Kamchatkan fish-eating killer whales to the playbacks of calls from the same and different pods. After the playback of recordings from a different pod, in three cases whales changed the direction of their movement toward the boat, and in three cases no changes in direction were observed. After the playback of recordings from the same pod (either from the same or a different unit within the pod), in seven cases whales changed the direction of their movement toward the boat, and in only one case no change in direction was observed. Whales remained silent after all six playbacks of recordings from a different pod, even when they changed direction toward the boat.