I hope you learn some new cool facts about Dolphins from this! Ones that you never knew! Read away!
Friday, December 28, 2007
They're Smarter Than We Think
Did you know that some dolphins teach their children to use tools (sponges to cover their snouts to protect them while foraging)? This knowledge is mostly transferred from mother to daughter. This is not genetic, it is taught.
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
so what happens to the boy dolphins' snouts? and what do the sponges think of all this?
I never really thought of that mom...I'm trying to write all I know about dolphins..and I don't really know the answer to that...it didn't say anything about that...and it said MOSTLY transfered from mother to daughter not 'ALWAYS'.
An analysis of dolphin interventions in shark attacks on humans concludes that dolphins have less than honorable motives.
Dolphins have earned a reputation for protecting humans from shark attacks, is this reputation deserved or has their behaviour been misinterpreted?
Typically the story goes something like this: The human(s) are either injured by or uncomfortably close to a shark when dolphins come to the rescue. They circle the human(s) and, while beating their tails on the water to repel the shark, they drive the human(s) towards the shore.
One explanation for the dolphins’ behaviour is that they are altruistically putting their lives at risk to save humans from their natural enemy, the shark. They do this by using behaviours very similar to their natural hunting behaviours while at the same time, misguidedly attracting the shark!
A much more plausible explanation is that dolphins are using what they know about herding and corralling prey to drive the human(s) to, or to keep the human(s) in a vulnerable position, while attempting to attract the shark. Should the shark prove too dangerous to be driven off by the dolphins, they can make their escape - leaving a largely helpless human to distract the shark and possibly sate its hunger.
More details at: http://chrisblogforever.blogspot.com/2010/05/dolphins-smarter-than-we-thought.html
Dolphins are around 4ft long and 88lb in weight. They have acute eyesight and hearing superier to humans. They have a good sense of touch and taste, but it is believed that they have no smell.
3 comments:
so what happens to the boy dolphins' snouts? and what do the sponges think of all this?
I never really thought of that mom...I'm trying to write all I know about dolphins..and I don't really know the answer to that...it didn't say anything about that...and it said MOSTLY transfered from mother to daughter not 'ALWAYS'.
An analysis of dolphin interventions in shark attacks on humans concludes that dolphins have less than honorable motives.
Dolphins have earned a reputation for protecting humans from shark attacks, is this reputation deserved or has their behaviour been misinterpreted?
Typically the story goes something like this: The human(s) are either injured by or uncomfortably close to a shark when dolphins come to the rescue. They circle the human(s) and, while beating their tails on the water to repel the shark, they drive the human(s) towards the shore.
One explanation for the dolphins’ behaviour is that they are altruistically putting their lives at risk to save humans from their natural enemy, the shark. They do this by using behaviours very similar to their natural hunting behaviours while at the same time, misguidedly attracting the shark!
A much more plausible explanation is that dolphins are using what they know about herding and corralling prey to drive the human(s) to, or to keep the human(s) in a vulnerable position, while attempting to attract the shark. Should the shark prove too dangerous to be driven off by the dolphins, they can make their escape - leaving a largely helpless human to distract the shark and possibly sate its hunger.
More details at:
http://chrisblogforever.blogspot.com/2010/05/dolphins-smarter-than-we-thought.html
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