title: Lateralized swim positions are conserved across environments for beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) mother-calf pairs.
abstract: Research with wild belugas has indicated that, during mother-calf swims, calves spend more time on their mothers' right side, which enables the calves to maintain visual contact with their mothers using their left eye. This bias may facilitate processing of social information by the right hemisphere, much like human and non-human primates and other animals. The current study explored the social laterality of the Cook Inlet, AK beluga population in comparison to a beluga population in managed care. As expected, the results indicated that the calves spent more time on the mothers' right side than the left for both populations. We also examined the developmental trend for the belugas in managed care and found that the calves generally preferred to swim on their mother's right side across most months, although there was an inversion during the third quarter when a left-side preference appeared. Individual differences were present. The results corroborate previous research conducted with two wild beluga populations from the White Sea and from the Sea of Okhotsk in which a left-eye bias was displayed by calves when swimming with their mothers. In conclusion, a preference for a lateralized swim position appears to be conserved across wild and managed care settings, and this lateralized swim position may facilitate the processing of social information or familiar stimuli for the calves.
authors.affiliation: St. Mary's University, United States. Electronic address: hhill1@stmarytx.edu.
authors.forename: Heather M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: St. Mary's University, United States.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guarino
authors.affiliation: St. Mary's University, United States.
authors.forename: Amber
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calvillo
authors.affiliation: St. Mary's University, United States.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at San Antonio, United States.
authors.forename: Kristy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zuniga
authors.affiliation: SeaWorld San Antonio, United States.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bellows
authors.affiliation: University of Alaska Fairbanks, United States.
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Polasek
authors.affiliation: University of Washington's Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Alaska Fisheries Science Center's Marine Mammal Laboratory, United States.
authors.forename: Christy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sims
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D050643:Beluga Whale / Q000254:growth & development*; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D012621:Seasons; D013550:Swimming
keywords: Belugas; Cook Inlet; Delphinapterus leucas; Laterality; Managed care; Mother–calf swims