The Sociology Of Dolphins

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eniles. (Carwardine 154)
Aggressive behavior patterns include chasing, ramming, biting, and slapping other dolphins with their flukes. Jaw clapping is also common. Jaw clapping is when a dolphin closes its jaw sharply, sending a vibration through the water to nearby dolphins. Adult male dolphins display aggressive behavior toward other male dolphins as well as to calves. This is done to show dominance and leadership. When a male shows aggressive behavior toward a calf, the mother dolphin will generally fight back trying to escape the source of aggression. This is done by giving off angry squawks, clicks, and pops. (Carwardine 154).
Dominance is shown in a group of bottlenose dolphins off the coast of Australia. The local dolphins feed on the shrimp thrown overboard by fishers. The most dominant dolphins, which are generally the adult males, have first choice of the catch. They are very selective in what they eat. The lower ranked dolphins, the females and juveniles take whatever is left over. (Carwardine 154).
Although all groups of dolphins are essentially social, not all dolphins are. Some dolphins travel and live alone. The rest however exhibit a very fluid social structure. Individual dolphins leave and rejoin groups constantly. They usually travel in groups of two to more than a thousand. (Carwardine 154). Large groups of dolphins are mixed in age and sex, but smaller groups generally are of three types: a nuclear group which is a male and female, a nursery group which is a large number of females and their young, and a bachelor group which is a large number of adult males and younger males. (Donoghue...