Synchronous behaviours occur when two or more animals display the same behaviour at the same time. However, the mechanisms underlying this synchrony are not well understood. In this study, we carried out an experiment to determine whether or not Bottlenose dolphins use acoustic cues when performing a known synchronised exercise. For this, we recorded three dolphins while they performed requested aerial jumps both individually or synchronously in pairs, with a hydrophone array and a 360° underwater video camera allowing the identification of the subject emitting vocalisations. Results indicated that in pairs, dolphins synchronised their jumps 100% of the time. Whether they jumped alone or in pairs, they produced click trains before and after 92% of jumps. No whistles or burst-pulsed sounds were emitted by the animals during the exercise. The acoustic localisation process allowed the successful identification of the vocalising subject in 19.8% of all cases (N = 141). Our study showed that in all (n = 28) but one successful localisations, the click trains were produced by the same individual. It is worth noting that this individual was the oldest female of the group. This paper provides evidence suggesting that during synchronous behaviours, dolphins use acoustic cues, and more particularly click trains, to coordinate their movements; possibly by eavesdropping on the clicks or echoes produced by one individual leading the navigation.

当两个或更多的动物同时显示相同的行为时，就会发生同步行为。但是，这种同步的基础机制尚不十分清楚。在这项研究中，我们进行了一项实验，以确定宽吻海豚在执行已知的同步运动时是否使用声音提示。为此，我们用水听器阵列和360°水下摄像机记录了三只海豚单独或成对同步执行要求的空中跳跃的过程，从而可以识别发出声音的对象。结果表明，成对的海豚有100％的时间使跳跃同步。无论他们是单独跳还是成对跳，他们在92％的跳动前后都产生点击火车。在锻炼过程中，动物没有发出啸叫声或爆裂的声音。N = 141）。我们的研究表明，除了一个成功的本地化之外，在所有（n = 28）个地区，点击火车都是由同一个人生产的。值得注意的是，此人是该组中年龄最大的女性。本文提供的证据表明，在同步行为中，海豚会使用声音提示，尤其是点击火车来协调它们的运动。可能是通过窃听引导导航的个人产生的点击或回声来实现的。