Two social communities in the Pearl River Estuary population of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis)

The way human activities impact animal populations can depend on social structure, which is important to understand in social species such as cetaceans. We investigated association patterns in Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins ( Sousa chinensis (Osbeck, 1765)) inhabiting the Pearl River Estuary near Lantau Island, Hong Kong, using a 10-year data set for 88 individuals. Our analyses revealed two social communities. Each had its own region of core …