NOCTURNAL & DIURNAL BEHAVIOURAL STUDIES

The two major resources that dolphins need for survival are air and food. Feeding habits have a great importance in shaping the behavioural patterns of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

Recognizable bottlenose dolphins also allow for the descriptions of diving behaviour (surfacing cycles), and their correlation to general behaviour patterns such feeding, travelling, socializing and resting.

For dolphins, diving behaviour should reflect a species' ecology: how they use the water column should be a function of where their prey are, with the constraint of always having to return to the water's surface to breathe. The abundance or distribution of prey within the water column may also vary with time and such differences should influence how divers utilize the water column.

Seasonal behavioural fluctuations opportunistic feeding behaviours, are consistent with our hypothesis that bottlenose dolphins exhibit plasticity in their behaviour as a response to environmental changes and fluctuating prey kind and availability.

The main purpose of this program is to contribuite towards a more detailed understanding of the surface and dive behaviour of bottlenose dolphins exposed to high levels of anthropogenic activity.