When it comes to teamwork, bottlenose dolphins have some pretty sophisticated social sensibilities. They interact with a wide network of individuals and form different kinds of groups. Scientists delving into the nature of this complicated social sphere have looked recently at how individual dolphins choose and recognize members of their most strategic alliances. The research, on a population in Shark Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site off the westernmost point of Australia, shows that when male dolphins need or offer help corraling a female, they rely less on bonds of…
