Sparking a Dolphin's Curiosity: Individual Differences in Dolphins' Reactions to Surprising and Expectation-Violating Events

<p>Non-scientific literature consistently describes dolphins as “curious animals,” but there has been little systematic research on curiosity in dolphins. Curiosity in humans and certain non-human animal species, including birds and non-human primates, has been studied by examining individual differences in exploration and reactions to novel stimuli. Additionally, research has explored how human infants and non-human animals react when an event violates their expectations. The present study explored dolphins’ reactions to spontaneously surprising and expectation-violating stimuli. The reactions of dolphins, 15 bottlenose (<em>Tursiops truncatus</em>) and 6 rough-toothed (<em>Steno bredanensis</em>), at Gulf World Marine Park were analyzed in response to events that were spontaneously surprising and a possible violation of expectations paradigm. The results of this study supported the hypothesis that there would be a wide range of individual differences in dolphins’ reactions to the stimuli, including differences between species, sex, age class, and personality ratings. Subjects had a longer gaze duration, produced more bubble bursts and bubble trails, opened their mouths more, and were visibly startled more frequently while viewing a spontaneously surprising stimulus. Contrary to hypotheses, the subjects did not behave differently when shown an expectation-violating stimulus compared to a control stimulus. The results of this study provide insight into individual differences in dolphins’ curiosity-related behavior and stimuli that elicit the curiosity of these animals, both of which can improve environmental enrichment and the welfare of dolphins in human care.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2017

Author dc:creator

• Lilley, Malin Katarina

Contributors dc:contributor

• Donald Sacco
• Richard Mohn
• Deirdre Yeater

• dolphin cognition
• curiosity
• individual differences
• marine mammal cognition
• Animal Studies
• Biological Psychology
• Cognition and Perception
• Cognitive Psychology
• Comparative Psychology
• Other Animal Sciences
• Zoology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/278

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1303