News Animals

Sponge Moms: Dolphins learn tool use from their mothers

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Bottlenose dolphins that carry sea sponges on their beaks probably learned the trick from their moms rather than inheriting a sponge-shuttling gene, researchers say.

LIKE A GLOVE. A female bottlenose dolphin in Shark Bay, Australia, wraps her sensitive beak with a sea sponge. The covering probably protects against scrapes and stings while the dolphin searches for food along the ocean bottom.