Dolphins 'Shout' over Loud Underwater Noise to Complete a Cooperative Task
Published:16 Jan.2023 Source:ScienceDaily
A study in the journal Current Biology published on January 12 demonstrates that dolphins "shout" when trying to work together in response to increasing underwater noise levels.
In this research, not only did the dolphins change their calls, but they also changed their body language. As noise levels increased, the dolphins were more likely to re-orient themselves to face each other, and they were also more likely to swim to the other side of the lagoon to be closer. While this research was conducted with dolphins living in human care, human-generated noise can potentially have detrimental effects on wild dolphins, too.
This research shows that these adjustments are not necessarily enough to overcome the negative effects of noise on communication between individuals. Since dolphins rely on their communication skills to successfully hunt and reproduce, noise levels can affect their behaviors, which in turn affect population health.