Heidi Pearson is a behavioral ecologist with interests in the evolution of social strategies and complex cognition in cetaceans and primates. She received her Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University, where her dissertation focused on understanding fission-fusion group dynamics in New Zealand dusky dolphins as compared to other dolphins and great apes. Heidi is currently a Lecturer in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University.
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Articles
Sociability of female bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Understanding evolutionary pathways toward social convergence
Article first published online: 22 JUN 2011
DOI: 10.1002/evan.20296
Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Issue
Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews
Volume 20, Issue 3, pages 85–95, May/June 2011
Additional Information
How to Cite
Pearson, H. C. (2011), Sociability of female bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Understanding evolutionary pathways toward social convergence. Evol. Anthropol., 20: 85–95. doi: 10.1002/evan.20296
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Heidi Pearson is a behavioral ecologist with interests in the evolution of social strategies and complex cognition in cetaceans and primates. She received her Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University, where her dissertation focused on understanding fission-fusion group dynamics in New Zealand dusky dolphins as compared to other dolphins and great apes. Heidi is currently a Lecturer in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University.
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School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University
Publication History
- Issue published online: 22 JUN 2011
- Article first published online: 22 JUN 2011
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- dolphin;
- cetacean;
- chimpanzee;
- great ape;
- social convergence;
- behavior
Abstract
On the northern tip of New Zealand's South Island, bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) occasionally pass through Admiralty Bay in large, fast-traveling groups of 100 or so individuals. Watching such a group race and splash through the water is reminiscent of a stampeding herd of ungulates, cetaceans' closest terrestrial ancestors. At other times, smaller social groups of bottlenose dolphins appear in the bay and provide a glimpse of the behavioral complexity that dolphins share with their distant relatives, the primates (Fig. 1). Despite being evolutionarily separated for 95 million years1 and evolving in vastly different environments, cetaceans and primates share striking similarities in behavior, socioecological problem-solving, life-history patterns, and cognitive capacity.2 By comparing attributes shared by primates and cetaceans, distraction from phylogenetic “noise” is minimized and our understanding of evolutionary pathways is enhanced. In particular, cetaceans provide a powerful outgroup for studying the evolution of primate social organization.