{"id":19453,"date":"2024-07-28T09:20:19","date_gmt":"2024-07-28T13:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/?p=19453"},"modified":"2024-07-28T09:20:19","modified_gmt":"2024-07-28T13:20:19","slug":"novel-research-reveals-how-beluga-whales-socially-interact-via-facial-displays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/news\/novel-research-reveals-how-beluga-whales-socially-interact-via-facial-displays\/","title":{"rendered":"Novel Research Reveals how Beluga Whales Socially Interact via Facial Displays"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Beluga whales are a charismatic species, easily recognized\u2013and adored\u2013for their bright white color and prominent foreheads. New research from Justin Richard<\/a>, assistant professor of animal science, published in Animal Cognition<\/em><\/a> <\/em>suggests there may be more to those squishy, distinctive heads than previously thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the decade Richard spent as a beluga whale trainer at Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, he noted something well observed by scientists but not well understood: the different shapes the animals make with their melons, the large fat deposits on their foreheads that are noticeably malleable, didn\u2019t seem to be entirely random. Since joining the faculty at the University of Rhode Island, his research has focused on understanding the reproductive physiology and behavior of belugas to inform conservation efforts. His curiosity about the melon shapes stuck with him, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNobody had ever really done formalized research about what exactly they are doing with their heads, in what context they are doing it, and why,\u201d Richard says. Over the course of several years, he and a team of students at URI sought to do just that. They analyzed recorded interactions between four belugas at Mystic Aquarium, cataloging details about 2,500 different shapes\u2013such as how long they lasted for, what behaviors were occurring before and after the shape, who the recipient whale was, and more. The data revealed a striking pattern: melon shapes seem to be a nonverbal communication method between belugas. \u201cBased on the research, it\u2019s not simply an unconscious reflex,\u201d Richard says. \u201cIt seems to be purposely done to communicate some signal to a recipient.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belugas are the only species of toothed whales that can alter the shape of their heads. \u201cMy big question is why,\u201d Richard says. \u201cWhen you watch these animals interact, it\u2019s very clear how important visual displays are in their communication. They take on different postures and swim positions, and their bodies contort in different ways.\u201d And while they are also known to be very vocal, making a variety of sounds from whistles to clicks, the emphasis on physical expressions stands out. \u201cThey live in the arctic, which has very little daylight for huge chunks of the year,\u201d Richard notes. \u201cSo why invest all of this in visual communication?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His research suggests there\u2019s a compelling reason for them to be able to see each other. Their striking, distinctive bright white color has often been assumed to allow them to camouflage against the ice in the arctic, but if that is the case, the fact that their babies are born dark gray\u2013and that their bright coloration actually makes them quite visible in murky water\u2013has always seemed puzzling to Richard. \u201cIt\u2019s just a personal hypothesis, but I really think they\u2019re that color so they can see each other do these visual displays in low light settings,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a team of undergraduates mining several thousand examples, Richard is now exploring another prominent visual cue: open mouth displays. Because these expressions are used in varied behavioral contexts\u2013 from courtship to play to aggression\u2013Richard suspects they modulate the meaning of their open mouth by what they do with their heads. The data they work with does not include acoustic recordings, something he hopes could be included in future studies for a more comprehensive view of these interactions. \u201cThere are a lot of questions about whether or not changing the shape of their heads somehow changes how the sound is perceived by recipients or if they can further modify the meaning of sounds by the way their head is shaped,\u201d he says. \u201cThe same behavior might take on different meanings with other context cues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

URI students have been instrumental in Richard\u2019s research, spending hundreds of hours analyzing video footage. They earn academic credit for working on the project, and some who have since graduated found their contributions helped propel them into other opportunities. Richard\u2019s two co-authors of the research paper in Animal Cognition<\/em>, Isabelle Pellegrini and Rachael Levine, who were undergraduates at the time of their participation, have gone on to exciting career paths: Levine is now a sea lion trainer at Mystic Aquarium, and Pellegrini just finished her Master\u2019s degree at Tufts University. \u201cThe College of Environment and Life Sciences takes great pride in experiential learning opportunities,\u201d Richard notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, this ongoing study relates to Richard\u2019s research on reproduction. \u201cIf they\u2019re spending a lot of time communicating about reproduction and their quality as a potential mate, it has implications for understanding how these animals breed in the wild,\u201d he says. As for the general public, Richard hopes this new understanding about nonverbal communication between belugas leads to a great appreciation for the work that can be done in zoos and aquariums. \u201cWe cannot watch these animals under water in the wild without seriously impacting their behavior,\u201d he says. \u201cWatching them in the aquarium gives us clues we wouldn\u2019t have otherwise, and it can shape new approaches that we hope to have an impact on the conservation and management of wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beluga whales are a charismatic species, easily recognized\u2013and adored\u2013for their bright white color and prominent foreheads. New research from Justin Richard, assistant professor of animal science, published in Animal Cognition suggests there may be more to those squishy, distinctive heads than previously thought. In the decade Richard spent as a beluga whale trainer at Mystic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5021,"featured_media":19454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19455,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19453\/revisions\/19455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}