Dear MARMAM colleagues,
Over the years the peculiar head-standing behaviour often displayed by
Risso's dolphins (/Grampus griseus/) has caught the interest of
researchers and members of the public who have witnessed it. This
behaviour consists of the animal standing for a period of time (varying
from a few seconds to several minutes) in a vertical position with the
head underwater (~ 1/3 of the body length) and the tail out of the water
(~ 2/3 of the body length). With very few exceptions there is almost no
information available in the literature on this behaviour other than the
reporting of its existence.
Various hypotheses have been suggested to try to explain the behaviour,
including reaction to distress (either natural or human related),
communication, resting, thermoregulation, etc. but no specific study has
been carried out.
We are currently collecting information about the presence/absence and
frequency of the head-standing behaviour in Risso's dolphins in
different areas of the world and would like to gather as much
information as possible from far and wide.
On behalf of my co-authors and myself, I hereby wish to ask the MARMAM
community to contribute to this research by completing a simple
questionnaire which we have prepared. The only requirement to contribute
is that Risso's dolphins are encountered (with ANY frequency) during
your activity at sea (e.g. whale-watching, land survey, etc.). The
presence of the head-standing behaviour is NOT a requirement -- to the
contrary, we are very interested to find out whether only certain
populations display the behaviour.
As we cannot attach the questionnaire to this MARMAM email, if you are
interested in participating please do not hesitate to contact us (Marina
Costa: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>, Elisa
Remonato: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>)and request
the questionnaire along with which we will also provide the terms of the
collaboration.
Many thanks in advance for your help and interest!
We will keep the MARMAM community posted about any news and development
of this project.
My dearest wishes
Marina Costa
--
Marina Costa
PhD Student
Sea Mammal Research Unit
Scottish Oceans Institute
University of St Andrews
St Andrews
KY16 8LB
Scotland
[email protected]
[email protected]
Skype: costa_marina
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