Cetaceans are fully aquatic predatory mammals that have successfully colonized virtually all
marine habitats. Their adaptation to these habitats, so radically different from those of their …

In the songs and bubble feeding of humpback whales; in young killer whales learning to
knock a seal from an ice floe in the same way their mother does; and in the use of sea …

The social environment is both an important agent of selection for most organisms, and an
emergent property of their interactions. As an aggregation of interactions among members of …

Bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops cf. aduncus, in Shark Bay, Western Australia exhibit the most
complex alliances known outside of humans. Advances in our understanding of these …

The evolutionary forces that drive fitness variation in species are of considerable interest.
Despite this, the relative importance and interactions of genetic and social factors involved in …

Many species exhibit fission–fusion dynamics, yet the factors that influence the frequent
changes in group size and membership in these species have not been widely studied …

Animal tool use is of inherent interest given its relationship to intelligence, innovation and
cultural behaviour. Here we investigate whether Shark Bay bottlenose dolphins that use …

Evolutionary explanations for mammalian sociality typically center on inclusive-fitness
benefits of associating and cooperating with close kin, or close maternal kin as in some …

Large, solitary, marine predators such as sharks have been observed to aggregate at
specific areas. Such aggregations are almost certainly driven by foraging and behavioural …

Abstract In Shark Bay, Western Australia, male bottlenose dolphins form a complex nested
alliance hierarchy. At the first level, pairs or trios of unrelated males cooperate to herd …