Social dynamics and individual hunting tactics of white sharks revealed by biologging

Social foraging, where animals forage in groups, takes many forms but is less studied in marine predators as measuring social associations in the wild is challenging. We used biologging (activity, cameras and telemetry receivers) sensors to measure social associations and simultaneous behaviour, in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Biology letters (2005) Vol. 18; no. 3; p. 20210599
Main Authors:	Papastamatiou, Yannis P, Mourier, Johann, TinHan, Thomas, Luongo, Sarah, Hosoki, Seiko, Santana-Morales, Omar, Hoyos-Padilla, Mauricio
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England The Royal Society 01-03-2022
Subjects:	Animal Behaviour Animals Ecosystem Predatory Behavior Sharks Swimming Telemetry accelerometers social associations inter-animal telemetry social foraging
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Social foraging, where animals forage in groups, takes many forms but is less studied in marine predators as measuring social associations in the wild is challenging. We used biologging (activity, cameras and telemetry receivers) sensors to measure social associations and simultaneous behaviour, in white sharks ( ) off Guadalupe Island, Mexico. Animal-borne telemetry receivers revealed that sharks varied in the number of associations they formed and occurred most often when sharks were swimming in straight paths or when they were turning frequently. While many associations were likely random, there was evidence of some stronger associations. Sharks varied in the depths they used and their activity, with some individuals more active in shallow water while others were more active 200-300 m deep. We propose that white sharks associate with other individuals so they can inadvertently share information on the location or remains of large prey. However, there may be a wide range of individual variability in both behaviour and sociality. Biologging now enables social associations of animals to be measured, concurrent with measures of their behaviour, so that social foraging of large marine predators can be quantified in the wild.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Electronic supplementary material is available online at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5872272.
ISSN:	1744-957X 1744-9561 1744-957X
DOI:	10.1098/rsbl.2021.0599