Acoustic coordination by allied male dolphins in a cooperative context

Synchronous displays are hallmarks of many animal societies, ranging from the pulsing flashes of fireflies, to military marching in humans. Such displays are known to facilitate mate attraction or signal relationship quality. Across many taxa, synchronous male displays appear to be driven by competition, while synchronous displays in humans are thought to be unique in that they serve a cooperative function. Indeed, it is well established that human synchrony promotes cooperative endeavours and increases success in joint action tasks. We examine another system in which synchrony is tightly linked to cooperative behaviour. Male bottlenose dolphins form long-lasting, multi-level, cooperative alliances in which they engage in coordinated efforts to coerce single oestrus females. Previous work has revealed the importance of motor synchrony in dolphin alliance behaviour. Here, we demonstrate that allied dolphins will also engage in acoustic coordination, whereby males will actively match the ...同步展示行为是诸多动物社会的典型特征，其表现形式涵盖萤火虫的脉冲闪光，乃至人类的军事列队行进。此类展示行为已知可助力配偶吸引，或传递群体关系质量的信号。在诸多分类群（taxa）中，雄性同步展示行为似乎由竞争驱动；而人类的同步展示行为则被认为具有独特性，因其承担合作功能。诚然，已有充分研究证实，人类的同步行为能够推动合作事务，并提升联合行动任务的完成成功率。本研究针对另一类同步行为与合作行为紧密关联的系统展开探讨。雄性宽吻海豚会形成持久的多层级合作联盟，它们在其中协同协作，以胁迫单只处于发情期（oestrus）的雌性。既往研究已揭示运动同步（motor synchrony）行为在海豚联盟行为中的重要性。本研究证实，结成联盟的海豚同样会进行声学协调，雄性个体将主动匹配……