Male bottlenose dolphins form the largest known multi-level alliance network outside humans, an international team led by researchers at the University of Bristol have shown. These cooperative relationships between groups increase male access to a contested resource. The scientists, with colleagues from the University of Zurich and University of Massachusetts, analysed association and consortship data to model the structure of alliances between 121 adult male Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins at Shark Bay in Western Australia. Their findings have been published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Four male allies and a female dolphin. Photo credit: Simon Allen Male dolphins in Shark Bay form first-order alliances of two-three males to cooperatively pursu...
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