A Bottlenose Dolphin’s ( Tursiops truncatus ) Responses to Its Mirror Image: Further Analysis

Abstract

In the present study we provide more specific analyses of the responses of a subadult bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncates ) to a mirror from an earlier study. An ethogram was constructed in order to classify specific behaviors as contingency checking, social, and other. This ethogram was used to develop a continuous record of behaviors of the dolphin at a mirror and the durations of those behaviors over nine test sessions dispersed across nine days. The subject spent an increasing proportion of time engaged in contingency checking behaviors, such as repetitive head and body movements, over the nine sessions, a very small proportion of time engaged in social behaviors, and another larger proportion of time engaged in behaviors that were unusual but not strictly classifiable as contingency checking or social. These other behaviors included head orientations and circling at the mirror. These findings will add to the ongoing effort to describe and compare mirror responses in cetaceans and primates.