Not Just Humans, Dolphins Too Have 'Complicated' Relationships, Says a New Study

Like humans, dolphins also have intricate and dynamic social relationships, according to a new study.

The study conducted on bottlenose dolphins for over six years concluded that dolphins exhibit social networking patterns that are more complex than previously thought.

During the course of the study, researchers from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) observed networking patterns of about 200 individual dolphins. Researchers also learned how the social preference of the dolphins is influenced by their habitat.

"One of the more unique aspects of our study was the discovery that the physical dimensions of the habitat, the long, narrow lagoon system itself, influenced the spatial and temporal dynamics of dolphin association patterns," said Elizabeth Murdoch Titcomb, research biologist at HBOI who worked on the study with Greg O'Corry-Crowe, Ph.D., associate research professor at HBOI; Marilyn Mazzoil, senior research associate at HBOI, and Elizabeth Hartel, in a press release "For example, communities that occupy the narrowest stretches of the Indian River Lagoon have the most compact social networks, similar to humans who live in small towns and have fewer people with whom to interact."

They study puts light on how dolphins organize themselves, who they interact with and who they avoid, as well as when and where.

The study could prove to be a useful resource for scientists and resource managers in creating the roadmap to understand how dolphin populations perceive and use their environment.

The study was published in the journal Marine Mammal Science.