How do dolphins, whales and other cetaceans communicate with each other?

THE cetaceans (placental aquatic mammals that include whales, dolphins, killer whales, porpoises, narwhals and belugas) represent a large group of marine mammals, whose in-depth study has allowed us to understand more about intraspecific communication methods, ways and strategies of action and relationship between individuals over the last 40 years. Some cetaceans have the ability to emit sound wavesthanks to which they can communicate in a rather complex way with a wide range of sounds, some of which are similar to “songs”, as in the case of some whales. In any case, communications between cetaceans are above all of type tactile And acoustic. They cannot use all their senses to communicate because of the limitations imposed by the aquatic environment: water, for example, is not an effective medium for the diffusion of odors. Similarly, even the use of sight is hindered from the movement and from the turbidity of water, from plankton blooms and from lack of light.

Acoustic communication

This type of communication can be further divided into vocal And non-vocal. As for the acoustic communication of the vocal typeamong the Mysticeti it is possible to witness low frequency singing, short repeated shots And whistles. Regarding songs, scientific studies have clarified that those produced by male humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliaethey are real “songs”up to 30 minutes long and in which it is possible to recognize the repetition of elements in sentences and thematic sentences. Through these songs, typical of the breeding seasonanimals communicate information about their status (reproductive and geographical) to females and other males. Odontocetes, on the other hand, produce higher frequency sounds, like a sort of narrow band whistles And broadband pulsed sounds. Some of these sounds, described in literature as barking, buzzing, squealing, all have a social function. With the exception of the sperm whale, Odontocetes have two systems of phonic lips, which give them the ability to produce two different sounds at the same time.
There non-verbal acoustic communicationinstead, takes into account the whole range of noises products from fins hitting the waterfrom the teeth grindingfrom thebubble emission of air or from jump to the surface. These are behaviors that, although not yet fully understood by our species, are very likely to have a communicative causality at their origin.

Tactile communication between cetaceans: the case of whales

Tactile communication is a type of communication studied mainly in captivity, where actions such as rubbing the gums, flippers or dorsal fin are used as effective reinforcements in training. It is often possible to take note of it even in the open sea. It is not uncommon to see films or photographs depicting specimens of gray whales, Eschrichtius robustusget closer and rub the body under the boats or even, tolerate caresses by tourists (although this is a behavior that should not be imitated). In nature, the Atlantic spotted dolphin, Stenella frontalisand the species of the genus Bottlenose dolphin sp., often swim in close contact with each other, forming sometimes very large schools. Finally, among whales, it is very common to witness the close contact between mothers and cubs.