Tursiops truncatus

The purpose of this research project was to determine if Tursiops truncatus, bottlenose dolphins, have signature whistles. A population's exclusive use of a certain behavior type is rare among animals. Recordings of Tursiops truncatus bioacoustics were recorded at two different lagoons in Baja California, Mexico, via hydrophone equipment. The first lagoon, Laguna San Ignacio, is the main gray whale breeding area. The second lagoon, Ojo de Liebre, is further north near Guerro Negro. Whistles were analyzed from audio files, sound spectrograms, and statistical tests. In Laguna San Ignacio single-loop, multi-loop, and down whistles were recorded. In Ojo de Liebre a repeated rise whistle was recorded. An analyses of variance on different whistles between lagoons indicated that whistles were significantly different. These whistles enable Tursiops to form complex social structures. These different whistles form separate lagoons could represent population identification techniques which permit Tursiops truncatus to recognize individuals throughout their lifetime.