Dolphins using tools, teaching each other. And so it begins.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jme

Jme

Member
Source: Reuters

Dolphins in one western Australian population have been observed holding a large conch shell in their beaks and using it to shake a fish into their mouths -- and the behavior may be spreading.
Click to expand...

The Shark Bay dolphin population is already unusual for having developed two foraging techniques, one of which involves the dolphin briefly beaching itself to grab fish after driving them up onto the shore.

The other is "sponging" -- in which the dolphins break off a conical bit of sponge and fit it over their heads like a cap, shielding them as they forage for food on the sea floor.

But both of these spread "vertically," mainly through the female dolphin population, from mother to daughter. The intriguing thing about this new behavior with the conch shells is that it might be spreading "horizontally," Allen said.

"If it spreads horizontally, then we would expect to see it more often and we'd expect to see it between 'friends'," he added, noting that dolphins are known for having preferences in terms of companions and whom they spend time with.

"Most of the sightings from this year are in the same habitat where we first saw it in 2007, and a couple of the individuals this year are known to associate with the ones that we saw doing it a year or two ago."
Click to expand...


dlmk94.jpg
 
I think I read somewhere that the act of shaping something out of the environment into a tool shows far more intelligence than using a "raw" tool.

Guess this falls under the "shaping" category.
 
Still pretty pissed off about the slaughter that is going on in Japan right now, and it seems nobody cares. Its just sad.
 
Soon we won't be able to safely enter the waters...

Wonder how it would turn out between one of these dolphins and a shark.
 
njean777 said:
Still pretty pissed off about the slaughter that is going on in Japan right now, and it seems nobody cares. Its just sad.
Click to expand...

You upset about the slaughter of Salmon in the Alaskan rivers? Or the slaughter of Blue Crab off the Eastern N. American coast?
What I'm saying is - nice derail...
 
Jme said:
You upset about the slaughter of Salmon in the Alaskan rivers? Or the slaughter of Blue Crab off the Eastern N. American coast?
What I'm saying is - nice derail...
Click to expand...

Is it a derail though?

Dolphins continue to show signs of intelligence that very few animals possess, it's fair to say that they should be considered/classified a protected species worldwide and that they shouldn't be hunted down.
 
Speedymanic said:
Is it a derail though?

Dolphins continue to show signs of intelligence that very few animals possess, it's fair to say that they should be considered/classified a protected species worldwide and that they shouldn't be hunted down.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
 
I read the title as "Dolphins using tools, touching each other. And so it begins."

And envisioned a thread completely different from what I got... I'm quite relieved about that, actually.
 
Speedymanic said:
Is it a derail though?

Dolphins continue to show signs of intelligence that very few animals possess, it's fair to say that they should be considered/classified a protected species worldwide and that they shouldn't be hunted down.
Click to expand...


Exactly.
 
Speedymanic said:
Is it a derail though?

Dolphins continue to show signs of intelligence that very few animals possess, it's fair to say that they should be considered/classified a protected species worldwide and that they shouldn't be hunted down.
Click to expand...
Pigs have been scientifically proven to be smarter than dogs, yet that doesn't stop us from massacring them wholesale for meat while we condemn everyone who dare eat a dog as savages and barbarians.
 
Speedymanic said:
Is it a derail though?

Dolphins continue to show signs of intelligence that very few animals possess, it's fair to say that they should be considered/classified a protected species worldwide and that they shouldn't be hunted down.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Dolphins are some of the very few animals in the world that come close to humans in terms of intelligence. Well, insofar as the intelligences of species that are so different and live in such different environments can be compared.
 
Jme said:
You upset about the slaughter of Salmon in the Alaskan rivers? Or the slaughter of Blue Crab off the Eastern N. American coast?
What I'm saying is - nice derail...
Click to expand...

not sure if serious....
 
Article in the New Scientist last week was about Dolphins understanding mortality. This piece along with the OP, and a piece this year about dolphins recognizing themselves in mirrors just shows how amazing these animals are. My town (Sarasota, Florida) has one of the leading dolphin research institutes in the world.
 
I'm not saying that dolphins deserve to be slaughtered. I'm saying this thread was about something really interesting and that was a derail into a different topic entirely. And yes it is a different topic. Dolphins learning to use seashells to fish (and to teach that technique to each other) has nothing to do with whether or not they should be hunted.
 
Jme said:
I'm not saying that dolphins deserve to be slaughtered. I'm saying this thread was about something really interesting and that was a derail into a different topic entirely. And yes it is a different topic. Dolphins learning to use seashells to fish (and to teach that technique to each other) has nothing to do with whether or not they should be hunted.
Click to expand...


Actually it has everything to do with that.
 
Speedymanic said:
Is it a derail though?

Dolphins continue to show signs of intelligence that very few animals possess, it's fair to say that they should be considered/classified a protected species worldwide and that they shouldn't be hunted down.
Click to expand...


i bet some Orca's wont give a single fuck if they feel like killing a dolphin.
 
SpectreFire said:
Pigs have been scientifically proven to be smarter than dogs, yet that doesn't stop us from massacring them wholesale for meat while we condemn everyone who dare eat a dog as savages and barbarians.
Click to expand...

If dogs were made of bacon we would not be having this discussion. Or Lassie movies.
 
krypt0nian said:
Actually it has everything to do with that.
Click to expand...

Inversely I agree, this is a good story for the argument that they should not be hunted, etc. But I don't agree that bringing up dolphin slaughter in any story about dolphins is anything but a derail to the cause.

But whatever, I'm obviously in the minority, so on with your save the dolphins comments.
 
They will slowly build resistance for high levels of mercury so they can't be consumed by man and then they will rest for awhile and after that... Chaos.
 
I remember watching a clip from some documentary about male, homosexual dolphin rape in my psychology class in college; it was that moment I knew something was odd about these creatures.
 
Clydefrog said:
I remember watching a clip from some documentary about male, homosexual dolphin rape in my psychology class in college; it was that moment I knew something was odd about these creatures.
Click to expand...
Jessica Alba got almost raped by a dolphin while filming New Adventures Of Flipper.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Locked
Can we have the politics forum back if we promise to be respectful of each other?
2
91
4K
EviLore replied
Streamers, influencers, and Yourube channels need to stop with annotations and other static images
15
885
Mr Reasonable replied
Honda and Nissan to reportedly begin merger talks
2
77
4K
BennyBlanco replied
Any tool to change text so is unsearchable?
23
1K
Tams replied
OpenAI releases Sora video generation tool
15
1K
DeepEnigma replied
Top Bottom