Abstract

(…) Some of the observations mentioned in this paper have been made at sea, on board the oceanographic vessel Calypso, put at our disposal by a special committee of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. The expedition took place in August, 1962, and most of the work was done in the Alboran Sea, along the coast of Spain between Almeria and Gibraltar, in the western Mediterranean.
The expedition lasted one month. All recordings were made on a glassy sea. The identification of the animals was made by observing them both at the surface and underwater. A porthole in the stem of the ship enabled us to watch the animals at a depth of 3 to 5 m, depending on the condition of the sea. Several animals were caught with harpoons and identified (measurements, number of teeth, morphology), but we did not want to sacrifice a specimen of Globicephala for dissection. Some doubts therefore remain on formal identification. The results obtained with Globicephala melaena (Traill ) and Delphinus delphis L. are discussed later on.
Another part of this research, dealing with Phocoena phocoena L., was carried out at the Anton Bruun Oceanographic Station, a branch of our laboratory established at Strib in Denmark, on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Jutland. The research work done there was carried out on animals kept in large tanks. It was supported by the Biology Branch, Office of Naval Research (grant 62558-3637), and, for a period of two years, by the Scientific Affairs Division, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (grant 71). (…)

(p.638-639) “Study of signals of the common porpoise, Phocoena phocoena L., in captivity”
Observations of a group of five animals, three females and two males, are presented. The porpoises lived in a plastic tank 10 m long, 6 m wide, and 120 cm deep from January through June, 1963. The recorded signals concern mainly feeding behavior (hand feeding), hierarchical behavior, courting behavior, and reactions to the introduction of a new animal into the tank. In all, 103 signals were recorded; daytime and nighttime signals were analyzed separately. At night the acoustic activity was sometimes quite weak. (…)