1D). He then seized the calf in his jaws and tossed it into the air a second time, but at this point several other large males converged on the scene and encircled ID#021 obstructively. 1253—Further dolphins appeared thereafter as many of the original animals started to regroup around the ACP-196 ic50 mother and calf and aggressive male. Lots of circling was observed and, amongst the commotion, the calf was escorted away from the immediate area by its mother. 1300—The mother-calf pair were subsequently relocated heading west, close inshore, within a mixed-sex group of 26 animals including six other females with calves. 1318—Male ID#021 was eventually located heading east

and offshore within a smaller, residual subgroup. Initial concerns as to HSP inhibitor whether the calf had survived its ordeal or not were put to rest the following day when the mother and infant were encountered together at sea by the author. However, when identified off the coast of Aberdeen approximately seven months later, the recaptured calf had developed a prominent

deformity “affecting its ability to swim in a normal, coordinated manner” (Fig. 2).2 The calf consequently live-stranded and died at the Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, just one month later, and a necropsy was carried out on the deceased animal by the Scottish Agricultural College that revealed an acute scoliosis with observed kyphosis in body posture (Fig. 3). According to the veterinary report, this gross deformity was concluded to be long-standing—based on remodeling 上海皓元 and realignment of the lateral spinal processes to accommodate the axial musculature as the calf developed—and was therefore either manifest at birth or acquired from trauma as a neonate (Brownlow3). Since the condition could not be distinguished in photographs taken during the attack, however, it is likely to have occurred as a direct result of the events reported here. Indeed, the high incidence of scoliotic calves in the Moray Firth bottlenose population reported by Haskins and Robinson (2007) could thus be attributed,

in part at least, to the trauma-inducing capabilities of infanticidal males within this population, in addition to the list of other possible causes (e.g., Cowell et al. 1972, Giddens et al. 1984, Wilson et al. 1997). By nature of their small size and dependency, newborn dolphins are evidently most at risk from infanticidal males (Patterson et al. 1998, Kaplan et al. 2009, Nery and Simão 2009). However, first-time mothers might further be targeted in view of their lack of parental experience. At just 8 yr of age, the known female detailed in the present report was a first-time mother and the calf was just several days old (the last sighting of female ID#387 was made just four days earlier and there was no calf present at this time).