Males appeared to vary more in their social behaviour compared to females, implying that this population of bottlenose dolphins seems to adopt different social strategies depending on sex.
Male calves have a bigger chance to be part of a tight community, perhaps to avoid aggression or even infanticide. They also had a more connections than females, meaning they might spend more time socialising.
Change in social behaviour in young dolphins can be linked to the fact that they are reaching sexual maturity. Indeed young males might start to look for potential mating partner and thus they navigated more around their social network.
Older dolphins, males and females, appear to be more stable in their social behaviour. Implying that long-term social bonds and social interactions might be vital for the well-being and social cohesion of this dolphin population.
Offspring seemed to have a social profile similar to its mother for two social network metrics (Degree and Closeness). This might imply that calves inherit connections or learn social behaviours from their mothers.
