A pair of Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) off the coast of the Falkland Islands

by Laura Jourdan

Bigg's killer whale Orcinus orca

Observed by marciecjohn, CC BY-NC

DOLPHIN MOMS DO 'BABY TALK' WITH THEIR CALVES

Baby talk or Motherese/ Parentese is a speech pattern nearly universal across cultures and languages in human caregivers interacting with children. It is characterized by a higher than usual pitch, exaggerated intonation, repetition, calling attention to objects and use of slow stretchy speeches. What we know about baby talking in other nonhuman species is sparse. Now, researchers have  found evidence for baby talk in bottlenose dolphin, a species that shows parallels to humans in their long-term mother–offspring bonds and lifelong vocal learning. 

Researchers analyzed audios from made wild bottlenose dolphins in waters near Sarasota Bay, Florida, United States, and found that females produced signature whistles with significantly higher maximum frequencies and wider frequency ranges when they were recorded with their own dependent calves.

This finding provide an example of convergent evolution of motherese in nonhuman mammals, and may help us understand how motherese can facilitate vocal learning and bonding in nonhumans as well as humans.

Photo by Carli Brush Stoll

Reference: Sayigh et al., 2023.  Bottlenose dolphin mothers modify signature whistles in the presence of their own calves. PNAS

Dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) playing off the coast of Kaikoura, New Zealand

Michael S. Fuhrer (Feather as a Light)

🥚?

hourglass dolphin!

(Lagenorhynchus cruciger)

Extraordinary Attorney Woo gifs from the official digital goods 💞

seninle şöyle,

I'm actually alive, here's photos I've taken of Akai - who is one of the older dolphins at DCO and is going to be in his 50s very soon <3

Orca (Orcinus orca)

Family: Marine Dolphin Family (Delphinidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Data Deficient 

Found in open oceans worldwide from the tropics to the poles, the Orca (also known as the Killer Whale, a mistranslation of an early Spanish name for this species, “asesina de ballenas”, meaning “whale killer”) is the largest living species of dolphin, and one of the most extensively studied of all cetaceans. Like most cetaceans Orcas live in complex social groups known as pods, but the makeup of these pods is unlike that of any other mammal in that individuals of both sexes typically remain with their mothers for their entire lives: each pod is led by a dominant female (known as a matriarch) who guides the pod in finding food, and upon her death a matriarch will be succeeded by one of her daughters. All of the males in a pod (which can be distinguished from females due to their longer dorsal fin) will be a son of one of the females within it, and while they may temporarily separate from their birth pod to mate with females from other pods they will almost always return afterwards. Different populations of Orcas differ greatly in the strategies they use to hunt and the vocalizations they use to communicate with one another, with some researchers having likened these differences to the variety of languages and cultures seen in humans. Owing to their intelligence, large size and cooperative hunting strategies, Orcas are tertiary consumers (apex predators) in every ecosystem they appear in and have been known to prey on animals as large as Blue Whales and other tertiary consumers such as Great White Sharks (although smaller prey such as sea turtles, smaller dolphins, seabirds, pinnipeds and a range of fish species are more typical prey.) 

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Animal Advent Calendar - Day 2

Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41521-Orcinus-orca

An orca (Orcinus orca) spyhopping in Resurrection Bay, Alaska

by Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith

South American Commerson's dolphin Cephalorhynchus commersonii commersonii

Observed by marcosilva, CC BY-NC

Terrible news everyone! Turns out the 'boymum' phenomenon is not limited to members of the human species. Female orca (Orcinus orca), especially post-menopausal individuals, often seem to spend a large amount of time coddling their useless adult sons. These mothers often share food with their larger sons and solve scuffles between them and other members of their pod. Why do these females dote on their adult sons and not their daughters? Researches believe it is all down to passing on the most of their genetic information. An orca mother only produces one calf per gestation period, a process that takes an average of 17 months and usually only has a calf every 3–5 years. A male however, can mate with multiple females per year. By ensuring their sons are well-fed and avoid fights increases their chances of procreating even more, thereby maximising the amount of individuals in the next generation carrying part of her genetic information.

Orca (Orcinus orca) off the coast of Tromsø in Norway

Bo Eide

The 3d model available here: https://steplont-art.blogspot.com/2015/11/3d-model-dolphin.html

3d model dolphin

Polys: 1778 Verts: 1789

The 3d dolphin model looks like a dolphin :) These model is made with high detaled elements.

Texture map: 4096x4096 Normal map: 4096x4096

The head has symmetry topology.

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A fun detail about the Nakjo sunset scene! When Junho starts telling Youngwoo how he wants her by his side, suddenly hundreds of tiny dolphins begin dancing atop the glistening sea !!