Preliminary Investigations On Ethogram And Behavior Pattern Of Chinese White Dolphin (Sousa Chinensis Osbeck,1765) Along The Jiangmen Adjacent Waters, Guangdong Province

The Chinese white dolphin(Sousa chinensis Osbeck,1765),also known as Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin,was listed as an Order I National Key Protected Animal in China.This species mainly distributed in Fujian coastal areas(including Xiamen,Dongshan Bay,Quanzhou Bay and Ningde),the Pearl River estuary(including the Pearl River Estuary and Hong Kong),Guangxi coastal(including Sanniang Bay,Hepu and other places),Zhanjiang Leizhou Bay,Hainan Island and the eastern part of the Taiwan Strait.Chinese White Dolphin Provincial Nature Reserve as the core of the Jiangmen area,belongs to the Pearl River Estuary area.At present,the behavior of Chinese white dolphins is still in the broader classification of the state,lacking systematic investigation.In order to get a systematic study,we conducted a field investigation from September 2014 to September 2016 and analyzed the photos and video resources obtained from December 2013 to September 2016.An elementary ethogram was established.Finally,we constructed the ethogram of Chinese white dolphin based on the PAE(Posture-Action-Environment)coding system.On the other hand,behavior pattern were researched.The results are listed below:1.Ninety-one behaviors of Chinese white dolphin were analyzed and defined.Including sixty-nine individual behaviors,divided into physiological function behaviors,ingestion behaviors,supporting behaviors,sexual behaviors,escaping behaviors,resting behaviors,playing behaviors,head behaviors,flipper behaviors,swimming modes and outlet ways;the survey recorded fourteen groups behaviors and eight kinds of special behavior respectively.2.Based on the preliminary ethogram,the ethogram of Chinese white dolphin based on PAE coding system was constructed.The posture,action and behavior of Chinese white dolphin were distinguished,and 10 kinds of postures,34 kinds of actions and 10 environmental factors were used to classify the constituent elements and structural levels of each Chinese white dolphin.3.Foraging behaviors,the primary behavior,had an average proportion of 60.49%;playing behaviors and resting behaviors had an average proportion of 17.87%and 9.65%each.Supporting behaviors and interaction behaviors had lower proportion,the average of three years was 6.24%and 5.75%,respectively.4.The behavior pattern of Chinese white dolphin was quite stable.There was a significant difference between the first and third year,the second and third year of foraging behaviors,also in the second and third years of resting behaviors.The difference between the other years was not significant.There were no significant differences between most of the behaviors in the same season.Time distribution of each behavior had no significant difference in different seasons(P>0.05).5.Chinese white dolphins,in the past three years,distributed in each area in Jiangmen adjacent waters.The harbor of the power station in Sea area 4 and the Tonggu Bay in Sea area 5 were main places.Except the bebavior of catching along ships,all other behaviors happened at the harbor of Sea area 4.All behaviors happened in Sea area 5 and Sea area 6 and the bebavior of catching along ships was mainly concentrated in these two areas.Chinese white dolphins often played and rested in Sea area 1,which was between the upper and lower Kawashima Island.Seaarea 3 was not the main activity area of dolphins though all behaviors were found.Only foraging behaviors and playing behaviors were found in Sea area 2.6.The mainly activities of the Chinese white dolphins were Sea area 4,5,6,and the activity area of the same behavior increased year by year.The first year only found in Sea areal,4,5,6,each behavior mostly occurred in only one region,no more than three,the second year increased to five,and the third year,each behavior was found in every region.In this paper,we established a systematic ethogram of Chinese white dolphin,based on the PAE coding system,providing an important basis for other studies on cetaceans.The study on the allocation of different behaviors was useful to establish the behavior pattern of Chinese white dolphins in the field,which could provide the basis for the study of behavior patterns in other waters.Through the study of the range of activities,the main activities of Chinese white dolphins in the sea area were obtained,which could help the conservation of Chinese white dolphin.