SEMINAR: To Sponge or Not to Sponge: Tool use among wild bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay

The Seminar: For 28 years, Mann has been studying the dolphins of Shark Bay, including tool use with marine sponges. This is one of the best-studied cases of tool-use in cetaceans. About 4% of the population regularly uses tools. This talk explains why some dolphins use tools while others do not, how this behaviour is maintained over time and whether it qualifies as 'culture.'

The Speaker: Janet Mann, Professor of Biology and Psychology at Georgetown University, earned her PhD at The University of Michigan with expertise is in the field of animal behaviour. Since 1988 her work has focused on social networks, female reproduction, calf development, life history, conservation, tool-use, social learning and culture among bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia. Her long-term study "The Shark Bay Dolphin Research Project", tracks over 1600 dolphins throughout their lives and includes an international team on three continents where each group studies different aspects of delphinid biology. Mann has published over 80 scientific papers in journals such as Nature Communications, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Her research has also received considerable media attention worldwide, including a BBC Documentary "The Dolphins of Shark Bay" focusing on her work in 2011. In 2013, Pamela Turner published a children's book "The Dolphins of Shark Bay" (Houghton Mifflin) about Professor Mann's research as part of her 'scientists in the field' series. She frequently interviews with the New York Times, National Geographic, public television stations and on National Public Radio.