A new study publish in the journalCurrent Biologyreveals how dolphins learn new forage behaviors from their match . The inquiry focalise on “ shell ” and was the first to discover that dolphins do n’t just learn such foraging techniques from their mother but also from other dolphins in the cod .
" Our study shows that the foraging conduct ' shelling ' – where dolphins trap fish inside empty seashell – diffuse through societal encyclopaedism among close associates , " said Sonja Wild in astatement , who conduct the inquiry for her doctor’s degree at the University of Leeds . " This is surprising , as dolphin and other toothed whale tend to succeed a ' do - as - mother - does ' scheme for learning forage behavior . "
Shelling is one of two examples oftool useever to be witness in dolphin , the other being a group of dolphins in Shark Bay , Western Australia , who use nautical quick study when trying to catch prey . They discovered shell while carry out boat sight in Shark Bay and of the 5,300 encounters they recorded between 2007 and 2018 , 42 of them involved shelling .
" During blast , dolphins chase their prey – normally a fish – into empty racing shell of elephantine univalve , insert their nib into the scale , bring it to the piss open and then agitate it about to drain the body of water out of the shell , so that the fish falls into their open sass , " Wild explained
They identified 19 individuals carrying out the forage behavior but hypothesize there are probably many more use the technique , which would be easy for commentator to miss throw how speedily it ’s over . But how had the dolphins learned this proficiency ? To find out , the researchers carried out a societal net psychoanalysis and concluded that the shelling demeanor had spread principally through societal grouping rather than generations , showing dolphins were learning from their peers , not just their mothers .
" The fact that shell is socially convey among associate , rather than between mother and offspring , play up the similarities between cetaceans [ the group include mahimahi , whales , and porpoise ] and great apes in the fashion cultural behaviors are passed on,“saidMichael Krützen , University of Zurich , who initiated the study .
" Indeed , despite hold diverging evolutionary histories and occupying different environments , there are striking similarities between cetacean mammal and swell copycat : both are long - lived , big - brain mammalian with high capacity for innovation and cultural transmitting of behavior . ”
