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Dolphins filmed using shells to hunt for first time
nypost.com • • science
Key Points:
- Researchers have captured the first video evidence of dolphins using seashells to trap prey off the coast of Australia, a behavior known as "shelling," documented in the journal Marine Mammal Science.
- The footage shows a female Pacific bottlenose dolphin raising a shell to flush out fish, then dropping the shell to catch the escaping prey, highlighting a sophisticated hunting technique.
- Additional clips reveal a mother dolphin teaching this behavior to her calf, suggesting that shelling is passed down maternally rather than learned from peers.
- This discovery, along with previous observations from 2013 in Western Australia, indicates that different dolphin populations may have independently developed this tool-use behavior.
- The findings provide insight into dolphin intelligence and innovation and may offer clues about the evolutionary origins of tool use in humans.
