Speaker: Alexandre Machado, Associate Researcher, Aquatic Mammals Laboratory, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil

Topic:  The role of environmental conditions and individual differences in a rare human-dolphin mutualism

In southern Brazil, wild dolphins and artisanal net-casting fishers work together to catch mullet. In a rare cooperative foraging tactic, dolphins and fishers synchronize their behavior to overcome their respective challenges in foraging for mullet in the murky waters of Laguna. However, both human and dolphin partners can differ in their behavior. Fishers vary in their fishing skills and experience, and not all dolphins regularly participate in the cooperative foraging. Such variation in the behavior of dolphins has led to fishers perceiving some dolphins as “good” and other dolphins as “bad”. But if such differences exist, what makes a "good dolphin"? In this talk, I will discuss our latest findings on the influence of environmental conditions and the role of individual differences among dolphins on the outcomes of this rare human-dolphin mutualism.