Journal
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
Volume 27, Issue 2, Pages 401-410Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arv164
Keywords
bottlenose dolphin; foraging performance; life history; reproduction; tool use
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Funding
- Georgetown University
- National Geographic Society Young Explorers Grant
- Explorers Club Exploration Fund Grant
- Achievement Rewards for College Scientists
- Animal Behavior Society Cetacean Behavior and Conservation Award
- American Society of Mammalogists
- National Science Foundation [0847922, 0316800, 0918303, 0918308]
- Office of Naval Research [10230702]
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems [0316800] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0918308, 0847922] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Effective foraging is necessary for nearly all animals, but most animals are not born with adult-like foraging performance. Instead, foraging skills are developed during an individual's lifetime. Life-history theory predicts that adult-level foraging performance should be reached prior to the start of reproduction, but for most species, we know little about age-specific foraging in the wild. Here, we examine lifetime changes in foraging performance for a group of female wild bottlenose dolphins that use marine sponge tools to forage. After controlling for ecological effects and developmental changes in activity budgets, we show that females continue to improve in 3 aspects of foraging until a peak at around midlife, well after dolphins reach physical and sexual maturity. The factors that lead to this improved performance are unknown, but likely include learning and increasing physical ability. Dolphins' peak in foraging performance also coincided with a peak in reproduction, with middle-aged females maximizing foraging efficiency and having the highest probability of lactating. Thus, inadequate mastery of foraging behaviors, such as tool use in bottlenose dolphins, does not limit the onset of reproduction, but improvement in foraging skill may help maximize age-specific reproduction and lifetime fitness.
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