BookBernd Würsig, editor.
Summary: This book concentrates on the marine mammalian group of Odontocetes the toothed whales, dolphins, and porpoises. In 23 chapters, a total of 40 authors describe general patterns of ethological concepts of odontocetes in their natural environments, with a strong bent towards behavioral ecology. Examples are given of particularly well-studied species and species groups for which enough data exist, especially from the past 15 years. The aim is to give a modern flavor of present knowledge of ethology and behavior of generally large-brained behaviorally flexible mammals that have evolved quite separately from social mammals on land. As well, the plight of populations and species due to humans is described in multiple chapters, with the goal that an understanding of behavior can help to solve or alleviate at least some human-made problems.
Contents:
Part I. Patterns of odontocete ethology and behavioral ecology. 1. Grouping behaviors of dolphins and other toothed whales / Shannon Gowans ; 2. Communication by sound and by visual, tactile, and chemical sensing / Peter Tyack ; 3. Social ecology of feeding in an open ocean / Robin Vaughn-Hirshorn ; 4. Sexual strategies : male and female mating tactics / Dara N. Orbach ; 5. Maternal care and offspring development in odontocetes / Janet Mann ; 6. Movement patterns of odontocetes through space and time / Stefan Bräger and Zsuzsanna Bräger ; 7. Predator/prey decisions and the ecology of fear / Mridula Srinivasan ; 8. Odontocete social strategies and tactics along and inshore / Katherine McHugh ; 9. Oceanic dolphin societies : diversity, complexity, and conservation / Sarah L. Mesnick, Lisa T. Ballance, Paul R. Wade, Karen Pryor, and Randall R. Reeves ; 10. Odontocete adaptations to human impact and vice versa / Giovanni Bearzi, Sarah Piwetz, and Randall R. Reeves
Part II. Examples of odontocete ethology and behavioral ecology : present knowledge and ways forward. 11. Killer whales : behavior, social organization, and ecology of the oceans' apex predators / John K.B. Ford ; 12. Sperm whale : the largest toothed creature on earth / Mauricio Cantor, Shane Gero, Hal Whitehead, and Luke Rendell ; 13. Pilot whales : delphinid matriarchies in deep seas / Jim Boran and Sara Heimlich ; 14. Behavior and ecology of not-so-social odontocetes : Cuvier's and Blainville's beaked whales / Robin W. Baird ; 15. Common bottlenose dolphin foraging : behavioral solutions that incorporate habitat features and social associates / Randall S. Wells ; 16. The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) / Richard C. Connor, Mai Sakai, Tadamichi Morisaka, and Simon J. Allen ; 17. Spinner dolphins of islands and atolls / Marc O. Lammers ; 18. Dusky dolphins of continental shelves and deep canyons / Heidi C. Pearson ; 19. Cetacean sociality in rivers, lagoons, and estuaries / Dipani Sutaria, Nachiket Kelkar, Claryana Araújo-Wang, and Marcos Santos ; 20. Hector's and Māui dolphins : small shore-living delphinids with disparate social structures / Rochelle Constantine ; 21. Porpoises the world over : diversity in behavior and ecology / Jonas Teilmann and Signe Sveegaard ; 22. Endangered odontocetes and the social connection : selected examples of species at risk / Thomas A. Jefferson ; 23. Ethology and behavioral ecology of odontocetes : concluding remarks / Bernd Würsig.