Category: In The Media

  • Dolphins Are So Smart They’re Learning Tool-Use From Their Friends

    Dolphins Are So Smart They’re Learning Tool-Use From Their Friends

    Science Alert, June 2020 The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins of Shark Bay in Western Australia have an unusual way of obtaining food. They chivvy fish into a large, empty marine gastropod shell. Then they carry the shell and captured fish up to the surface, and shake it upside down. Slurp! go the fish, straight down into…

  • News of the Day: Dolphins Use Tools

    News of the Day: Dolphins Use Tools

    Ocean Today, NOAA, June 2014 These bottlenose dolphins have been observed covering their beaks with basket sponges torn from the seafloor as they forage for food.  This tool helps them uncover fish hiding in the sandy sea bottom, and protects their snouts from scrapes and stings. https://oceantoday.noaa.gov/newsoftheday_dolphinsusetools/ https://oceantoday.noaa.gov/newsoftheday_dolphinsusetools/

  • Dolphin food habits distinguish genetic line

    Science Network Western Australia, May 2014 INDO-PACIFIC bottlenose dolphins that use sponges as hunting tools are eating different foods to those who do not and the unique behaviour could have shaped the genetic makeup of the population, according to two new studies at Shark Bay. https://www.sciencewa.net.au/topics/fisheries-a-water/item/2812-dolphin-food%20-habits-distinguish-genetic-line Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20140512091037/http://www.sciencewa.net.au:80/topics/fisheries-a-water/item/2812-dolphin-food-habits-distinguish-genetic-line

  • Dolphins Use Sponges As Tools To Snag Snacks, Scientists Say

    Dolphins Use Sponges As Tools To Snag Snacks, Scientists Say

    Huffington Post, April 2014 Recently, scientists discovered Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay off the coast of Australia apparently use tools in the wild. Specifically, the most common foraging tactic dolphins practice in deep-water channels involves carrying sponges on their snouts https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dolphins-sponges-tools_n_5206207 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dolphins-sponges-tools_n_5206207

  • Dolphin watch: How social behavior affects genetic makeup

    Dolphin watch: How social behavior affects genetic makeup

    Digital Journal, March 2014 (Photo: NASA) Scientists studying bottlenose dolphins that use sponges as tools to protect their sensitive beaks has shown that social behavior can shape the genetic makeup of an animal population in the wild. https://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/dolphin-watch-how-social-behavior-affects-genetic-makeup/article/378095 https://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/dolphin-watch-how-social-behavior-affects-genetic-makeup/article/378095 Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20210417204755/http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/dolphin-watch-how-social-behavior-affects-genetic-makeup/article/378095

  • Unique Australian Dolphins Learn From Their Mothers To Use Tools

    Unique Australian Dolphins Learn From Their Mothers To Use Tools

    Business Insider Australia, March 2014 Some of the dolphins in Shark Bay in Western Australia put conical marine sponges on their beaks when they forage on the sea floor, a non-genetic skill calves apparently learn from their mothers. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/these-unique-australian-dolphins-learn-from-their-mothers-to-use-tools-2014-3 https://www.businessinsider.com.au/these-unique-australian-dolphins-learn-from-their-mothers-to-use-tools-2014-3 Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20140322014826/http://www.businessinsider.com.au/these-unique-australian-dolphins-learn-from-their-mothers-to-use-tools-2014-3

  • Meet the Dolphin Mafia

    Meet the Dolphin Mafia

    Science News, March 2012 (Photo: Simon Allen, SBDRA) The male dolphins of Shark Bay, Australia, are known to marine biologists for their messy social entanglements. Their relationships with each other are so unusual—they’re more like the intricate webs of the Mafia than the vertical hierarchies of chimpanzees https://news.sciencemag.org/2012/03/meet-dolphin-mafia https://news.sciencemag.org/2012/03/meet-dolphin-mafia

  • Bottlenose dolphins: ‘Gangs’ run society, scientists say

    Bottlenose dolphins: ‘Gangs’ run society, scientists say

    BBC Nature, March 2012 (Photo: Whitney Friedman, SBDRA) Male bottlenose dolphins organise gang-like alliances – guarding females against other groups and occasionally “changing sides”. A team studying dolphins in Shark Bay, western Australia, say the animals roam hundreds of square kilometres, often encountering other dolphin groups. https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17522450 https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17522450 Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20140201103139/https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17522450

  • Smart dolphins hunt for fish

    Smart dolphins hunt for fish

    Science Alert, August 2011 https://www.sciencealert.com/news/20111708-22507.html

  • Ingenious fishing method may be spreading through dolphins

    Ingenious fishing method may be spreading through dolphins

    Phys.org, August 2011 “If – and that is a big if – we are witnessing the horizontal spread of this behaviour, then I would assume that it spreads by an associate of a ‘conching’ dolphin closely observing the behaviour and then imitating it,” Mr. Allen said. https://phys.org/news/2011-08-ingenious-fishing-method-dolphins.html https://phys.org/news/2011-08-ingenious-fishing-method-dolphins.html