Dear MARMAM community, 

On behalf of all of the co-authors, I am pleased to announce our latest 
publication in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology titled " Humpback whale 
suckling behavior: an insight into the mother-offspring strategy in mysticetes 
". 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-023-03369-9 

Abstract 
Despite its biological importance, the nursing behavior in baleen whales has 
been poorly documented mainly because of the challenges in tracking whales in 
their natural environment. We studied the suckling behavior (nursing from the 
calf's perspective) in < 3-month-old humpback whale calves off Sainte Marie 
Island, Madagascar, South Western Indian Ocean (breeding/calving area). We 
investigated the temporal pattern of the suckling behavior, its spatial and 
behavioral context, and the ontogeny of these characteristics. We exploited 
data from both camera-equipped and non-camera-equipped animal-borne 
multi-sensor tags (Acousonde and CATS cam) collected from 2013 to 2022 (37 
calves). Our dataset constitutes the largest sample assembled so far to 
investigate the suckling behavior in free-ranging whales. We found that the 
suckling event duration does not vary much with the calves’ relative age. The 
estimated proportion of time spent suckling ranged between 0.8 and 1.6%. The 
suckling events mainly occurred during the descent and bottom phases of dives 
and rarely during the ascent phase of dives or surface activities. Strong 
evidence of humpback whale suckling at night is presented for the first time. 
We found that suckling events were often performed in bouts of 2–6 events. 
Suckling bouts mostly occurred less than 10 min apart, and suckling sessions 
were separated by about 2 h of non-suckling periods. In other words, humpback 
whale calves suckled several times throughout the day in short sessions similar 
to terrestrial “followers.” Our results add to the evidence that humpback 
whales, and potentially most baleen whales, are behaviorally and functionally 
similar to terrestrial “followers” regarding maternal strategy. 

Significance statement 
Young mammals rely on the milk provided by their mother to survive during their 
early life stage. The suckling behavior, i.e., the procurement of milk from the 
mother, has been widely studied for terrestrial mammals but not for fully 
aquatic mammals like the baleen whales due to the challenges in tracking them. 
By placing sensors and cameras on calves, we described the suckling pattern in 
humpback whales, the most common baleen whale species. We found that the 
temporal pattern of suckling in humpback whales is similar to those of 
terrestrial precocial mammals experiencing comparable environments (open 
habitat with predators): the young suckle frequently but in short sessions. Our 
results offer a new insight supporting the hypothesis that the rearing strategy 
used by baleen whales is an aquatic version of the “following” behavior found 
in these precocial terrestrial species. 

You can access the view-only full-text version at https://rdcu.be/djlMY 

Best regards, 

Maevatiana 

        
Maevatiana N. RATSIMBAZAFINDRANAHAKA (He/Him) 
Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay (NeuroPSI), UMR 9197 CNRS 
Campus CEA Saclay, 151 route de la Rotonde, 91400 Saclay 
Bâtiment 151 
+33(0)1 69 82 63 56, bureau 3054 
_______________________________________________
MARMAM mailing list
MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca
https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam

Reply via email to