Abstract
Alloparental behaviour and adoption have been reported in many mammals and birds. Such behaviours are energetically costly, and their causes and functions remain unclear. We observed the adoption behaviour of a wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) near Mikura Island, Japan. A calf was seen with its mother on six observation days. Following the mother’s death, the calf was observed with a sub-adult female on all 18 observation days from May to September 2012. On three days, the calf was observed swimming with this female in the suckling position and milk was seen leaking from the female’s mammary slit. A five-year dataset revealed no significant social or kin relationships between the biological mother and allomother, indicating that kinship and social relationships did not play an important role in the observed adoption.
Highlights
XXXXX is no report on the direct care of an orphaned cetacean by an allomother or information about the relationship between biological mothers and foster mothers in the wild
We report on the adoption behaviour of a wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, as well as the social and kin relationships between the biological mother and the foster mother
Infant bottlenose dolphins are seldom observed in the infant position with non-mothers[5], and #356 had well-developed mammary glands when it was first observed with a male calf on 27 April 2012 (Fig. 1a)
Summary
XXXXX is no report on the direct care of an orphaned cetacean by an allomother or information about the relationship between biological mothers and foster mothers in the wild. We report on the adoption behaviour of a wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, as well as the social and kin relationships between the biological mother and the foster mother. The adoptive mother (dolphin #576) was a sub-adult female, 8 years old in 2012.
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