Social responses of travelling finless porpoises to boat traffic risk in Misumi West Port, Ariake Sound, Japan.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic effects have created various risks for wild animals. Boat traffic is one of the most fatal risks for marine mammals. Individual behavioral responses of cetaceans, including diving behavior such as changing swimming direction and lengthing inter-breath interval, to passing boats is relatively well known; however, the social function of cetacean responses to boat traffic in a natural setting remains poorly understood. We focused on describing the behavioral responses of single and aggregated finless porpoises to boats passing at Misumi West Port, Ariake Sound, Japan, by using a drone characterized with a high-precision bird's-eye angle. During the study period, we collected 25 episodes of finless porpoise responses to boats passing by. A mean (± SEM) of 5.1 ± 1.0 individuals we

SUBMITTER: Morimura N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6314622 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature