澳大利亚麦考瑞大学近日发表在《动物生态学》杂志上的一项研究称，雄性海豚形成“组合”更易和异性交配成功。研究还发现，组成一个联盟的雄海豚比那些在更小群体里生活或单独行动的雄海豚生育的孩子多得多。研究者研究了生活在澳大利亚新南威尔士斯蒂芬斯港口的70只雄性及64只雌性印度洋—太平洋地区的宽吻海豚。他们发现，14只不同的雄海豚共生育了32只幼崽，其中13只是由一个由4只雄海豚组成的被称为“披头士”的联盟诞下的。“这项研究显示，雄海豚需要彼此协作来使它们的生殖成功率最大化。”研究报告的作者之一Jo Wiszniewski介绍说，“雄性结盟可以更好地控制雌性。我们常看到雄海豚前后左右环绕雌海豚游动，雌性无法逃脱它们。雄海豚群体尽力使雌海豚远离别的雄性。”（生物谷 Bioon.com）
doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2011.01910.x
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Male reproductive success increases with alliance size in Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus)
Wiszniewski, Joanna; Corrigan, Shannon; Beheregaray, Luciano B.; Möller, Luciana M.
Keywords:alternative reproductive strategies;cetaceans;coalitions;cooperation;paternity analysis relatedness;socialitySummary1. Determining the extent of variation in male mating strategies and reproductive success is necessary to understand the fitness benefits of social and cooperative behaviour.2. This study assesses the reproductive success of male Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphins in a small embayment population where different behavioural strategies of males have previously been identified. Parentage for 44 sampled calves was examined using 23 microsatellite loci and one mitochondrial DNA marker. Our candidate parent pool of 70 males and 64 females contained individuals sampled from both the embayment and adjacent coastal populations.3. A moderate level of polygyny was detected in our sample. We assigned paternity of 23 calves to 12 males at the strict 95% confidence level and an additional nine calves to two males at the 80% confidence level. The majority (92%) of successful males were identified as residents to the embayment, and 46% of offspring were located within the same social group or community as their father.4. Our results suggest that the size of alliances was the best predictor of reproductive success for males in this population, while the strength of association among allied males, alliance stability and male ranging patterns had little influence. In line with predictions for male alliances formed between unrelated individuals, we found that reproductive skew within alliances was not large.5. Together, our genetic and behavioural analyses demonstrate that alliance formation between male dolphins is a successful strategy to enhance reproductive output.
