For young male bottlenose dolphins, play is often practice. When that play concerns courtship, practice makes perfect. Juvenile males who spend more time play-acting courtship rituals father more offspring years later as adults, according to a study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Study author Livia Gerber, a researcher at University of New South Wales, Sydney, had previously published work showing that adult male alliances form when the dolphins are young. The new study says these relationships carry over into adulthood, predicting reproductive success.
“Our result suggests that males are practicing this joint action with their future allies,” says Holmes.
