For these dolphins, using a sponge for digging fish is a family tradition

In a marinely protected area away from the coast of Australia, there are hurdles floating around their nose with sponges.

But opposite Orokes wearing salmon on your head Or Chimps put grass in your ears and anus“Sparing” is not a fashion statement or a cultural tendency.

Instead, it is a sophisticated forging technology passed through generations to sink delicious snacks from Capslore.

Ellen Jacobs, a maritime biologist at the University of Denmark, said, “It is likely that Sponging originated from a single dolphin, with this creative phenomenon, where he had a sponge on his face and realized that it was really effective to scare the fish.” As it happens Host nil kӧksal.

“Then there may be a child in this dolphin who saw how it was forging the mother, so how she is going to feed, and then it is a kind of snowball.”

Jacobs is the lead author of a new study, Royal Society Published in Open Science This week, It examines the professionals and opposition of spongeing to find out why the technique is limited to a small population of genetically related dolphins in the marinely protected environment of the shark bay.

Strangely exclusive

Here is described how spawning works: A dolphin puts a sea sponge on its nose like a glove, then cruges with the sea bottom, using it, it rustles the fish hidden between the fish and the shells in the sediment, using it.

“Then the dolphin drops the sponge, holds the fish, and then picks up the sponge and keeps walking,” Jacobs said.

The first reported in 1984, the behavior has continued for decades. But only five percent of the dolphin population studied by researchers in Shark Bay, or about 30 dolphins in total.

And this is strictly a family matter, with the calves learn from their mothers.

“All dolphins that we see … Sponging are all concerned,” Jacobs said.

Researchers were curious why spongeing Was not More widely taken between the dolphins. It seems only to spread from adults to teenage, and anytime, from colleague to colleague or group, and ever spread vertically.

Sponging, it turns out, comes with some trade-offs.

First, this is the time to take. Dolphins that sponges spend more time in search of food than dolphins that use other prey and forging techniques, Jacobs said.

What is more, it is a complex skill that takes several years to be a master.

“Sometimes you will see teenage Spawsers Those who get frustrated, throw their sponge and pick up a new, “Jacobs said.” But as soon as they age, they become more efficient with their sponge use. ,

Why is it so difficult to learn? Researchers discovered sponge that Dolphin used dolphins to navigate their environment.

Jacobs used a underwater microphone to confirm the dolphin, yet use ecolocation clicks to guide them while sponging. Then he modeled the range of sound wave deformity from the sponge.

“This is the same if you were wearing a pair of glasses with the wrong prescription,” she said. “You are going to be uncomfortable in a way and everything looks a bit strange, but you can make it through your day, just with a headache.”

The Mauurisio canter, a maritime biologist at Oregon State University, who was not involved in the study, compared it “Hunting when you are blindfolding.”

“You are very good, very well trained to pull it,” the canter said.

And everyone has patience to erase the sponge, or to correct it.

“This special hunting skill (and) takes many years to learn,” said Boris Verma, a maritime biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, not everyone stays with it. “

why bother?

But those who mastered the art of sponging, they achieve the benefits of their hard work.

Jacobs said, “They can get a lot of fish throughout the year because fish they are hunting primarily are not migrant.” “And there are not many dolphins that do it so they do not have much competition for those fish.”

Earlier research also suggested Fish in sediment can also be more nutritious Compared to other types of fish.

The spongeing basket is not the only example of the tool usage dominated between dolphins.

In 2020, researcher Published a study Dolphin documentation Teach each other how to use sea circle to scoop the fish in your mouthA technique he dubbed “shelling” or “conch”.

And like sportsmen, shelars live in Shark Bay, a maritime protected area from western Australia.

Jacobs said, “There is such a complex interaction between many different parts of the spongeing ecosystem, and it is possible only because it is a very ancient ecosystem.”

She says that shark bay does not have much stress like dolphin pollution related stress and many other dolphins around the world.

“This actually gives them the opportunity to be a dolphin, the way the dolphin should be without anthropological effects,” he said. “This is a really great opportunity for us: what should be a dolphin?”