Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Open Access Articles

Do Belugas (Delphinapterus Leucas), Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), & Pacific White-Sided Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus Obliquidens) Display Lateralized Eye Preference When Presented With Familiar Or Novel Objects?, Deirdre Yeater, Sara Guarino, Steve Lacy, Tricia Dees, Healther Hill

Psychology Faculty Publications

Lateralization of behaviors and information processing are common across species. Hypothesized to be crucial for more efficient responding to environmental stimuli, lateralization has been investigated for a number of topics. Cetaceans are proposed to be hemispheric specialists, given a small corpus callosum, complete decussation of the optic nerve, and the ability to respond to a different visual stimulus presented to each eye simultaneously. Research with cetaceans has shown strong biases in a number of behaviors, including swimming, foraging, social interactions, and responses to myriad visual stimuli. Given similar evolutionary pressures, different species of cetaceans should display similar lateralized preferences. Previous …

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Responses To Familiar And Unfamiliar Humans By Belugas (Delphinapterus Leucas), Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), & Pacific White-Sided Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus Obliquidens): A Replication And Extension, Heather M. Hill, Deirdre Yeater, Sarah Gallup, Sara Guarino, Steve Lacy, Tricia Dees, Stan A. Kuczaj Ii

Psychology Faculty Publications

Previous research has documented that cetaceans can discriminate between humans, but the process used to categorize humans still remains unclear. The goal of the present study was to replicate and extend previous work on the discrimination between familiar and unfamiliar humans by three species of cetaceans. The current study manipulated the familiarity and activity level of humans presented to 12 belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) housed between two facilities, five bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), and six Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) during free-swim conditions. Two measures of discrimination were coded from video recordings of each trial: …

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Observations Of Rough-Toothed Dolphins (Steno Bredanensis) Off The Coast Of Utila, Honduras, Stan A. Kuczaj Ii, Deirdre Yeater

Psychology Faculty Publications

Local dive shop operators and fishermen report that rough-toothed dolphins (Steno bredanensis) are frequently encountered off the coast of Utila, Honduras, (16°05'46.5"N 86°55'47.8"W). Our observations suggest that at least some of these animals may constitute a resident population, although the extent of the resident group’s home range has not been determined. Twenty-eight rough-toothed dolphins were identified using photoidentification techniques, 15 of which were re-sighted on two or more occasions. The 12 animals that were re-sighted four or more times were typically seen together, suggesting that they constitute a stable social group. At least one of these dolphins is …

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Do Belugas (Delphinapterus Leucas), Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), & Pacific White-Sided Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus Obliquidens) Display Lateralized Eye Preference When Presented With Familiar Or Novel Objects?, Deirdre Yeater, Sara Guarino, Steve Lacy, Tricia Dees, Healther Hill

Psychology Faculty Publications

Psychology Faculty Publications

Observations Of Rough-Toothed Dolphins (Steno Bredanensis) Off The Coast Of Utila, Honduras, Stan A. Kuczaj Ii, Deirdre Yeater

Psychology Faculty Publications