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. 2021 Oct 27;11(1):21164.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-00635-6.

Population-level laterality in foraging finless porpoises

Masao Amano  1 , Yudai Kawano  2 , Taketo Kubo  2 , Tsuyoshi Kuwahara  3 , Hayao Kobayashi  3   4
Affiliations

Population-level laterality in foraging finless porpoises

Masao Amano et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Laterality has been reported in many vertebrates, and asymmetrical cerebral hemisphere function has been hypothesized to cause a left-bias in social behavior and a right-bias in feeding behavior. In this paper, we provide the first report of behavioral laterality in free-ranging finless porpoises, which seems to support the aforementioned hypothesis. We observed the turning behavior of finless porpoises in Omura Bay, Japan, using land-based and unmanned aerial system observations. We found a strong tendency in finless porpoises to turn counterclockwise with their right side down when pursuing and catching fish at the surface of the water. Our results suggest that this population of finless porpoises shows consistent right-biased laterality. Right-biased laterality has been observed in various foraging cetaceans and is usually explained by the dominance of the right eye-left cerebral hemisphere in prey recognition; however, right-biased laterality in foraging cetaceans may have multiple causes.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of Omura Bay, Japan with the observation sites for monitoring finless porpoise behavior. Star indicates land-based observation site, and open circles indicate aerial observation sites. Map was created using GMT 5.2.1 (https://www.generic-mapping-tools.org).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Numbers of clockwise and counterclockwise turning behaviors in finless porpoises noted during land-based observations. Black bars represent cases where a fish or a school of fish was observed ahead of the porpoises.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Numbers of clockwise and counterclockwise turning behaviors in finless porpoises noted during aerial observation. Black bars represent the number of observations in which the porpoises turned on their right side. No other postures were observed.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of postures of finless porpoises in straight swimming before the sharp turn to catch the prey: on the right side (right), on the left side (left), on the belly (belly), and on the back (back).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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