The Dewees Ferry is a great place to see dolphins. Today the Charleston Natural History facebook page posted a link to an article published today, in Perth, about dolphins teaching specific behaviors to other dolphins. The article describes the way a particular foraging behavior in Australia involves shaking conch shells to obtain fish that may be sheltering there. Also in Australia, they describe a “unique” behavior wherein dolphins beach themselves to chase food up on the shore.
None of that is really news to local dolphin watchers and researchers. We’ve published some of Cathy Miller’s photos of dolphins strand feeding here in SC. At a lecture on January 12th at the Charleston County Library, Dr. Rob Young described the complex roles dolphins play in our ecosystem.
Dr. Young is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Marine Science at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC. He earned a B.S. in 1986 at the University of Virginia and a PhD in 1992 at the University of Rhode Island, and he joined the Department of Marine Science at Coastal Carolina University as an Instructor in 1992. In addition to his work with Bottlenose Dolphins, Dr. Young’s research interests include the behavior and ecology of nekton (primarily fishes) in southeastern salt marshes and coastal regions.
We learned that there are probably 30,000 dolphins near our area, divided into three distinct populations: local inshore dolphins, offshore populations, and migratory populations. They travel in smaller groups that Dr. Young described as fission/fusion societies, where they form and reform different smaller groups by the day, the hour, or the week… within bigger groups where everyone knows each other. Strand feeding may be one of those learned behaviors that they teach other migrating groups, thereby spreading the behavior. Dolphins are an apex predator, feeding on mullet, silversides, menhaden, and flounder. I took pages of notes at this fascinating lecture… you’ll probably hear more as the year goes on. It might be fun to get Dr. Young to come talk to us about our dolphins sometime.
Marion sent a link to this silly video about an interaction between a housecat (boatcat?) and a pod of curious dolphins.