Whistles in the Wild: A Multi-Regional Assessment of Vocal Communication in Free-Ranging Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

Abstract

Animals rely on communication for a wide range of purposes, including mating and cooperating with others to ensure survival. In highly social and cognitively advanced species like bottlenose dolphins, acoustic communication plays an important role. Dolphins use sound not only to explore their surroundings through echolocation, but also to stay in contact, maintain group cohesion, and coordinate activities through sounds known as whistles. This thesis investigates how bottlenose dolphins use whistles across different social and environmental contexts. The research is based on long-term datasets collected by the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute over nearly two decades in two coastal regions: the northeastern coast of Sardinia, Italy, and the Galician Rías, NW Spain.