Wild dolphins are an elusive subject for behavioral studies: How can you ""do a Jane Goodall"" on animals usually visible only as a glimpse of rolling dorsal fins heading for the horizon? In this unusual book, two of the best-known scientists in the marine-mammal field have assembled an astonishing variety of discoveries about dolphins. The contributions range from a graduate student's first paper to senior scientists summarizing a lifetime of research. The dolphins they have studied range from tiny spinners to majestic pilot whales, from killer whales to the familiar bottle-nosed dolphin. The research tactics vary just as widely: the researchers have followed dolphins in boats, tracked them from shore, dived among hundreds of them (plus a few sharks) in tuna fishing nets. They have used computers and airplanes, genetic analysis and artificial language, and learned to read the life history of a dolphin from the cross-section of a single tooth.
Pryor and Norris are successful writers as well as scientists; the book is peppered with entertaining essays, by one or both editors, on the intriguing history of dolphin research. Dolphin Societies not only surveys the most interesting recent research on dolphin behavior but also gives lay readers a fascinating look at the scientific mind at work.
Edited by:
Karen Pryor,
Kenneth S. Norris
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 28mm
Weight: 590g
ISBN: 9780520216563
ISBN 10: 0520216563
Pages: 405
Publication Date: 10 December 1998
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgments Introduction • Karen Pryor and Kenneth S. Norris PART I. FIELD STUDIES Essay: Looking at Wild Dolphin Schools • Kenneth S. Norris Chapter One. Herd Structure, Hunting, and Play: Bottlenose Dolphins in the Black Sea • Edited by V. M. Bel'kovich 17 Chapter Two. Dolphin Movement Patterns: Information from Radio and Theodolite Tracking Studies • Bernd Wiirsig, Frank Cipriano, and Melany Wiirsig Chapter Three. The Feeding Ecology of Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in the Pacific Northwest • Frederic L. Felleman, James R. Heimlich-Baran, and Richard W. Osborne Chapter Four. The Interactions between Killer Whales and Boats in Johnstone Strait, B.C. • Susan Kruse, with Introductory Comments by Kenneth S. Norris Chapter Five. Social Structure in Spotted Dolphins (Stene/laattenuata) in the Tuna Purse Seine Fishery in the Eastern Tropical Pacific • Karen Pryor and Ingrid Kang Shallenberger Chapter Six. The Role of Long-Term Study in Understanding the Social Structure of a Bottlenose Dolphin Community • Randall S. Wells Chapter Seven. Using Aerial Photogrammetry to Study Dolphin School Structure • Michael D. Scott and Wayne L. Perryman PART II. LABORATORY STUDIES Essay: Mortal Remains: Studying Dead Animals • Karen Pryor Chapter Eight. Some New and Potential Uses of Dental Layers in Studying Delphinid Populations • Albert C. Myrick, Jr. Chapter Nine. An Overview of the Changes in the Role of a Female Pilot Whale with Age • Helene Marsh and Toshio Kasuya Essay: Some Thoughts on Grandmothers • Kenneth S. Norris and Karen Pryor PART Ill. CAPTIVE STUDIES: THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING WILD DOLPHINS Essay: Looking at Captive Dolphins • Kenneth S. Norris Chapter Ten. Changes in Aggressive and Sexual Behavior between Two Male Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in a Captive Colony • Jan Ostman Chapter Eleven. Use of a Telemetry Device to Identify which Dolphin Produces a Sound • Peter Tyack Essay: The Domestic Dolphin • Karen Pryor Chapter Twelve. What the Dolphin Knows, or Might Know, in Its Natural World • Louis M. Herman Chapter Thirteen. Dolphin Psychophysics: Concepts for the Study of Dolphin Echolocation • Patrick W. B. Moore Afterword: Dolphin Politics and Dolphin Science • Karen Pryor and Kenneth S. Norris Notes on Contributors Index 391 Notes on Contributors Index
Karen Pryor was a founder of Sea Life Park in Hawaii, where she pioneered many dolphin-training techniques. She is the author of numerous papers and several books, including Karen Pryor on Behavior: Essays and Research (1994), and has served on the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission. Kenneth S. Norris is Professor Emeritus of Natural History and Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and one of America's senior mammalogists and conservationists. His work established that dolphins use echolocation. He helped draft the Marine Mammal Protection Act. His books include The Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin (California, 1994).
Reviews for Dolphin Societies: Discoveries and Puzzles
"""[A] major anthology.""--""Los Angeles Times"
