Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) novel bubble helix play behavior
Open accessAbstract
Cetaceans demonstrate considerable ingenuity in their play with bubbles.Both wild and captive cetaceans have been reported to manipulate self-produced bubbles (Delfour & Aulagnier, 1997;Gewalt, 1989;Kuczaj, Makecha, Trone, Paulos, & Ramos, 2006;Kuczaj & Walker, 2006;McCowan, Marino, Vance, Walke, & Reiss, 2000;Pace, 2000;Paulos, Trone, & Kuczaj, 2010;Tizzi, Castellano, & Pace, 2000).The spread of unique and novel play behaviors across a group may involve social learning as well as trial and error learning (Kuczaj et al., 2006;Kuczaj, Yeater, & Highfill, 2012;McCowan et al., 2000;Pace, 2000).We report on a form of bubble play in belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) that has not been previously reported.Four belugas at the Shedd Aquarium were videotaped producing bubble helices, smooth, long "helical tubes" that were created by the animal producing a pressure vortex that caused bubbles to merge and elongate based on pressure variation in the vortex (Marten, Shariff, Psarakos, & White, 1996).These observations revealed that belugas create novel bubble play behaviors that are transmitted among members of the group through social learning.When a beluga engaged in bubble helix play following the play of another beluga, it often acted on the bubble in the same manner as the most recent player, consistent with the notion that the second beluga was mimicking the behavior of the first beluga.Kimalu, a calf, was more likely to both observe and interact with Miki, his older brother, during bubble helix play bouts than with Naya (no relation), or Mauyak, his mother.Dolphin calves have also been found to be more likely to imitate the play behaviors of older more competent peers (Kuczaj et al., 2006; Kuczaj et al., 2012).Consistent with previous analyses of cetacean play (Kuczaj et al., 2006), belugas also varied the complexity of the play behavior in order to keep the game stimulating.
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Belugas show the capacity for both vocal and behavioral imitation.
“This species shows the capacity for both vocal and behavioral imitation.”
From Evidence for mirror self-recognition in beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) (2026) · cites this paper as [44]
The Discussion (page not provided) describes Kimalu imitating other belugas’ bubble-play behaviors and says this suggests a capacity for deferred imitation. The paper does not report vocal imitation; searches for “vocal” and sound imitation found no supporting passage. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredBelugas have demonstrated behavioral imitation during play.
“They have also demonstrated the ability for behavioral imitation during play [44] and the capacity for contextual imitation of intransitive and novel body actions [45,46].”
From Evidence for mirror self-recognition in beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) (2026) · cites this paper as [44]
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Evidence for mirror self-recognition in beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas)
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- Authors
- Jones, B. L., & Kuczaj II, S. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Southern Mississippi (US)
- Corresponding author
- Jones, Brittany L.
- ORCID
- Jones, Brittany L.
- Venue
- Animal Behavior and Cognition
- Publisher
- Animal Behavior and Cognition
- Published
- 2014
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 206
- ISSN
- 2372-4323 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2165809350
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 1.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Animal Behavior and Cognition (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Keywords
- beluga, beluga whale, social learning, imitation, bubble merging, captive cetaceans
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