Courtship Behavior

Few studies have been conducted on the courtship behaviors of Beluga whales. Courtship is defined as whales creating a relationship and is seen through many different behaviors. Such behaviors include posturing, when a beluga turns on its side to present the ventral side to the beluga of interest (Dipaola, Akai, & Kraus, 2007). Behaviors are used as a means of close range communication (Pryor, 1990; Tyack, 2000; Wursig, Kieckhefer & Jefferson, 1990). The purpose of courting is to engage in sexual activity with a beluga of choice. Another courtship behavior is rubbing, wherein belugas make contact through body rubs, many of which occur using the pectoral fin; this is sometimes called taking a rub (Samuels et al., 1989 as cited in Glabicky, DuBrava, & Noonan (2010)).

Along with courtship, aggressive behaviors are often portrayed. Body rubs are considered an affiliative behavior. These behaviors are known for encouraging group cohesion. Rubs, however, can be considered a courtship behavior based on touch location and the behavior that took place before the rub. Often times rubs will take place when no aggression is present (Johnson, & Moewe 1999). Swimming “belly - up” may create courtship interactions in spinner dolphins. Dolphins also tilt sideways to show their belly when participating in an affiliative interaction (Tavolga & Essapian, 1957; Wursig & Wursig, 1979). Similar to dolphins beluga whales present the ventral side to another animal to court (Dipaola, Akai, & Kraus 2007).

While posturing may be considered a behavior for courtship, a similar behavior, S-posture, is considered agonistic. An S – posture occurs most commonly when the head of the beluga comes forward and tail stays back forming an S. S-p...

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...ables. The results showed a significant relationship between the sex of a beluga and the age of the beluga exhibiting sexual behavior, X2 (1, N = 112) = 0.121, p < .05, Ф = .729. Juvenile belugas showed a higher frequency of sexual behaviors than adults. Male belugas had a higher frequency of sexual behaviors than female belugas. Male juveniles had a sexual behavior frequency of 72.3%. (Figure 2)

Belugas and Agonistic Behaviors

A Chi Square Test of Independence was conducted to evaluate the relationship between age, gender and the frequency of Agonistic behavior. Results showed a belugas’ sex did not relate to agonistic behavior, X2 (1, N = 89) = 3.50, p > .05, Ф = .062. All categories of belugas fell within a close range of each other for showing agonistic behaviors. Males, females, juveniles, and adults were shown to equally portray agonistic behaviors.