Suckling Behavior in Sperm Whale Calves: Observations and Hypotheses

Gero, Shane; Whitehead, Hal

doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2007.00113.x

Cited by 23 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…The results obtained from three Yangtze finless porpoise calves are consistent with those of other odontocetes (Tavolga & Essapian, 1957;Gubbins et al, 1999;Mann & Smuts, 1999;Miles & Herzing, 2003;Krasnova et al, 2006;Gero & Whitehead, 2007)-that is, (1) birth and at least 4 mo of age, (2) a decrease in time spent in the echelon position between birth and at least 4 mo of age, (3) an increase in time spent in the infant position between birth and at least 2 mo of age, and (4) a consistency in time spent in other positions between birth and at least 2 mo of age (Krasnova et al, 2006). This consistency suggests general characteristics of adaptation related to spatial positioning between mothers and their calves in toothed whales.…”

Section: Comparisons With Previous Studiessupporting

confidence: 85%

“…A typical example is found in the formations of birds, which can improve aerodynamic efficiency (Lissaman & Shollenberger, 1970). For many toothed whales, two predominant positions occur after birth between a mother/calf pair (e.g., Tavolga & Essapian, 1957;Miles & Herzing, 2003;Krasnova et al, 2006;Gero & Whitehead, 2007). The first is the echelon position, wherein the mother and calf swim side by side.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Development of Spatial Positions Between Mother and Calf of Yangtze Finless Porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) Maintained in Captive and Seminatural Environments

Xian¹

2012

Aquat Mamm

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For many toothed whales, two predominant and multifunctional spatial positions occur between a mother/calf pair after birth: (1) the echelon position and (2) the infant position. Other nonpredominant positions also have social and developmental significance for the calf. So far, the observational period of studies on the spatial positions tends to be too short, and the studies have primarily focused on the marine groups. Moreover, few, if any, studies examining spatial relations between mother/calf pairs have been conducted on endangered toothed whale species. The Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) is one endangered and freshwater toothed whale. We studied the development of echelon, infant, and other position(s) in one calf maintained in captivity and two in a seminatural enclosure up to 1 y after birth. Focal following and continuous recording methods were used. A total of 180.6 h of video were recorded for the captive calf during the first year after birth (1.8 ± 0.5 h/d; n = 99 d). For the two calves in the enclosure, a total of 254.9 and 479.9 h of visual observations were recorded between 12 to 109 d after birth (5.8 ± 0.9 h/d; n = 44 d) and during the first year after birth (5.9 ± 0.5 h/d; n = 81 d), respectively. Results indicated that time spent in echelon, infant, and other position(s) accounted for 24.6 ± 2.7%, 34.4 ± 8.1%, and 4.6 ± 2.2% (n = 3), respectively. As the calves grew, they decreased their time spent in the echelon position. In contrast, time spent in the infant position increased and decreased in a parabolic fashion. The peaks (40.2%, 47.8%, and 46.8%) were approached at 91, 62, and 62 d after birth for the three calves, respectively. At 245 d after birth for the captive calf and 187 d for the second seminatural calf, time spent in the infant position began a second increase. This increase continued until the end of the year. Other positions were assumed during a small amount of time and changed slightly over time. In regards to animal management and conservation, we should regulate human activities contributing to the separation of a mother and her calf, especially before 90 d after birth. In addition, we should eliminate fishing gears and other risky factors in the environment until at least 60 d after birth.

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Section: Comparisons With Previous Studiessupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of Spatial Positions Between Mother and Calf of Yangtze Finless Porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) Maintained in Captive and Seminatural Environments

Xian¹

2012

Aquat Mamm

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“…This allowed for noting the overall behaviour of the tagged animal and its mother, and more specifically to identify visually when calves performed peduncle dives which served as a proxy for suckling dives (Gordon et al . ; Gero & Whitehead ). Travelling bouts, during which both calf and mother were swimming actively, were classified as active dives.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We conducted an hour of behavioural focal follow (Altmann 1974) on the mother-calf pair before and after tagging, during which we maintained a distance of >200 m with the engine of the observation platform turned off. This allowed for noting the overall behaviour of the tagged animal and its mother, and more specifically to identify visually when calves performed peduncle dives which served as a proxy for suckling dives (Gordon et al 1998;Gero & Whitehead 2007). Travelling bouts, during which both calf and mother were swimming actively, were classified as active dives.…”

Section: F I E L D S I T E S T U D Y a N I M A L S A N D T A G G I N Gmentioning

confidence: 99%

High suckling rates and acoustic crypsis of humpback whale neonates maximise potential for mother–calf energy transfer

et al. 2017

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Summary The migration of humpback whales to and from their breeding grounds results in a short, critical time period during which neonatal calves must acquire sufficient energy via suckling from their fasting mothers to survive the long return journey. Understanding neonate suckling behaviour is critical for understanding the energetics and evolution of humpback whale migratory behaviour and for informing conservation efforts, but despite its importance, very little is known about the details, rate and behavioural context of this critical energy transfer. To address this pertinent data gap on calf suckling behaviour, we deployed multi‐sensor Dtags on eight humpback whale calves and two mothers allowing us to analyse detailed suckling and acoustic behaviour for a total of 68·8 h. Suckling dives were performed 20·7 ± 7% of the total tagging time with the mothers either resting at the surface or at depth with the calves hanging motionless with roll and pitch angles close to zero. Vocalisations between mother and calf, which included very weak tonal and grunting sounds, were produced more frequently during active dives than suckling dives, suggesting that mechanical stimuli rather than acoustic cues are used to initiate nursing. Use of mechanical cues for initiating suckling and low level vocalisations with an active space of <100 m indicate a strong selection pressure for acoustic crypsis. Such inconspicuous behaviour likely reduces the risk of exposure to eavesdropping predators and male humpback whale escorts that may disrupt the high proportion of time spent nursing and resting, and hence ultimately compromise calf fitness. The small active space of the weak calls between mother and calf is very sensitive to increases in ambient noise from human encroachment thereby increasing the risk of mother–calf separation. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12871/suppinfo is available for this article.

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“…Another study in the breeding grounds used archival motion-sensing tags to study suckling behavior; however, since actual nursing could not be visually verified, Videsen et al (2017) inferred suckling dives and active dives based on a 1.5 m/s 2 median trimmed and normalized minimum specific acceleration (MSA) threshold value determined by surface observations of peduncle dives (Gero & Whitehead, 2007). Therefore, we were restricted in our ability to compare the kinematic values of our ''nursing events'' to Videsen et al (2017) ''suckling dives'' because ''suckling dives'' by definition only included periods of low MSA values.…”

Section: Nursing Duration Frequency and Depthmentioning

confidence: 99%

From a calf’s perspective: humpback whale nursing behavior on two US feeding grounds

Tackaberry

Cade

Goldbogen

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Nursing influences growth rate and overall health of mammals; however, the behavior is difficult to study in wild cetaceans because it occurs below the surface and can thus be misidentified from surface observations. Nursing has been observed in humpback whales on the breeding and calving grounds, but the behavior remains unstudied on the feeding grounds. We instrumented three dependent calves (four total deployments) with combined video and 3D-accelerometer data loggers (CATS) on two United States feeding grounds to document nursing events. Two associated mothers were also tagged to determine if behavior diagnostic of nursing was evident in the mother’s movement. Animal-borne video was manually analyzed and the average duration of successful nursing events was 23 s (±7 sd, n = 11). Nursing occurred at depths between 4.1–64.4 m (along the seafloor) and in close temporal proximity to foraging events by the mothers, but could not be predicted solely by relative positions of mother and calf. When combining all calf deployments, successful nursing was documented eleven times; totaling only 0.3% of 21.0 hours of video. During nursing events, calves had higher overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) and increased fluke-stroke rate (FSR) compared to non-nursing segments (Mixed effect models, ODBA: F1,107 = 13.57756, p = 0.0004, FSR: F1,107 = 32.31018, p < 0.0001). In contrast, mothers had lower ODBA and reduced FSR during nursing events compared to non-nursing segments. These data provide the first characterization of accelerometer data of humpback whale nursing confirmed by animal-borne video tags and the first analysis of nursing events on feeding grounds. This is an important step in understanding the energetic consequences of lactation while foraging.

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Suckling Behavior in Sperm Whale Calves: Observations and Hypotheses

Cited by 23 publications

References 50 publications

The Development of Spatial Positions Between Mother and Calf of Yangtze Finless Porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) Maintained in Captive and Seminatural Environments

The Development of Spatial Positions Between Mother and Calf of Yangtze Finless Porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) Maintained in Captive and Seminatural Environments

High suckling rates and acoustic crypsis of humpback whale neonates maximise potential for mother–calf energy transfer

From a calf’s perspective: humpback whale nursing behavior on two US feeding grounds

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