Much social rubbing and some fighting
It seemed that tension filled the water. Mateo joined our group (under observation) the previous day and he was the focus of attention for Buster, BigBoy and Bill. After about ten minutes, Tela and Mika (both young females) swam at the male group aggressively. Much head-to-head and right angle posturing followed. At one point, BigBoy tailslapped Tela on her melon (it sounded and looked like an 'ouch'!).
In our second underwater observation, the roles seemed reversed with Mateo rubbing and pushing at Tela, BigBoy and Buster. Ronnie and Maury (the youngest in the group) tried to participate. But, Buster pushed (chased actually) Ronnie out and Gracie disciplined Maury and kept her out of the fray.
The third underwater session presented us with a bit less aggression though the dolphins still seemed agitated. The addition of another individual to a group often has all members jockeying for position. We got to document this behavior first hand.
Till tomorrow.
Kathleen & Robin