Bottlenose Dolphin Gang Rumble | National Geographic

get ready to be disillusioned when you
think of bottlenose dolphins what comes
to mind flipper
maybe those frisky crowd-pleasers at the
aquarium well bottlenose dolphins can be
aggressive and combative here in the
Bahamas these two bottlenose are picking
a fight with this spotted dolphin
probably just to establish their
dominance
then just to show it’s not a species
thing they turn on one of their own a
smaller bottlenose and start giving it a
hard time here the dolphins true
aggressive nature is revealed before a
bottlenose will attack it engages in a
behavior called jaw clapping this is a
clear visual and audible threat after
the threat it comes the tussle including
a pretty nasty tail bite yep conflict
and violence everyday life from
bottlenose dolphin they also fight over
females these two males flank this
female to keep her from straight female
dolphins want to mate with as many males
as possible males want them to mate with
well just them hence tight order guard
duty this includes the audible warning
males form alliances sometimes even
super alliances like this one made up of
14 dolphins
thus the females have to figure out a
way to defeat this kind of bully boy
behavior
when an alliance harasses a female with
a baby she fights with all the fury a
mother can muster protecting her child
it seems to be one of the few times the
macho males can put in their place