Dolphins Use Tools

Though it doesn't seem that surprising when you think about it, Dolphins, fellow mammals, also use tools. It has been researched and documented in Australia.

The Dolphins pull sponges off of the sea floor and use them on the front of their snouts to forage for food on the seafloor while protecting themselves from fish and other creatures that may sting or harm them.



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www.cnn.com...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A group of dolphins living off the coast of Australia apparently teach their offspring to protect their snouts with sponges while foraging for food in the sea floor.

Researchers say it appears to be a cultural behavior passed on from mother to daughter, a first for animals of this type, although such learning has been seen in other species.

The dolphins, living in Shark Bay, Western Australia, use conically shaped whole sponges that they tear off the bottom, said Michael Kruetzen, lead author of a report on the dolphins in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

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It's a shame that we can't master the art of communication with many mammals. Its even more of a shame to be limited to the amount of study of our mammals in the ocean. Whales and Dolphins demonstrate many remarkable and intelligent ways of life. I sometimes wonder what they would be able to accomplish if they had digits (fingers etc.) like humans do.

Im going to try it with my sponge and my goldfish later... Sushi for lunch and something to wash my hands and face after.

Seriously though im not surprised by this either, though im glad its been observed. Some research has been done and I beleive is ongoing with the use of healing terminal illness with dolphins. The initial idea was to provide a positive emotional experience, for terminally ill people by going in the water with the dolphins. However it was found that the Dolphins advanced sonar abilities allowed it to scan their bodies internally. The Dolphins could see where any tumour was and then they seemed to focus their sonar on that area. Speculation is as to wether they are using their sonar to destroy the tumour. I think they are .

On the emotional healing level there are many people who claim some amazing experiances and results with dolphins.
DolphinTherapy

Dr. Ken Marten at Sea Life Park in Hawai'i recently demonstrated that dolphins recognize themselves in mirrors, which shows dolphins are self-aware, a trait shared with only humans and great apes. Dolphins were also taught to recognize some 40 spoken Hawaiian words by Dr. Wayne Batteau, and were taught to imitate English by Dr. John C. Lilly, M.D. Dolphins currently working with Dr. Louis Herman in Hawai'i can recognize some 300 hand signs in some 2000 combinations.2 Dolphins have done better at language tasks than any other creature. Research in Russia by Markov and Ostrovskaya concludes that dolphins have their own language with up to a trillion "words" possible.

Dolphins, Therapy and Autism

Dolphins are very intelligent animals, officially the Bottlenose dolphin is the next most intelligent animal after man. As a result of this intelligence dolphins are naturally curious animals and will instinctively investigate anything that is unusual to them, including us. Their intelligence has also allowed them to develop language to an extent, so far scientists have had little success in deciphering delphinic language and there is sum debate as to whether it could be defined as a real language. However the research in delphinic communication has revealed one important thing, dolphins have names; every dolphin studied was found to a special sound that represented it's name, called a callsig. Other members of the pod would use this sound to attract the dolphin or simply call it out just to see where it was. This may not sound like much but it proved one important thing, dolphins have a concept of self, to understand the concept of individual names they must first understand (or as the very least be aware of) individuality and all of the things which go with it.

General Behaviour of Dolphins

I know its on my to do list in life to go and swim with the dolphins, always been a bit worried though that I wouldnt want to come back!


My favourite quote on dolphins

"The voice of the dolphin in air is like that of the human, in that they can pronounce vowels, and combinations of vowels" - Aristotle





[edit on 7-6-2005 by MischeviousElf]

i firmly believe that dolphins are more intelligent than we have been able to determine. it doesn't suprise me at all to see they use tools!!!

amazing.........but not suprising!

as far as the emotional benefits of swimming w/dolphins there have been many studies on the amazing progress previously unresponsive autistic children have made after a period of therapy with the dolphins......same with horses as well. animal therapy is FINALLY getting some much deserved attention.

i think dolphin therapy is an AMAZING and HELPFUL tool to help the injured .....physically,emotionally and spiritually!

i have nothing wrong with me........(well nothing EXTREMELY wrong)
but if i had the opportunity to swim with dolphins it would be a totally lifechanging experience!!


angie

Monkeys use tools as well. They use stones to dig for food. They also for cracking seeds and for probing tree holes or rock crevices.

Lady of the Lake how true and can also communicate with man and maybe are evolving or learning to actually speak.

Below is a brilliant short Audio Documentary on Champanzee Communication.

Monkey Communication Documentary

Dolphins the monkeys of the sea

Monkeys the dolphins of the trees and air

Man the Idiot of the Land

MischeviouslyMonkyingAboutWithDolphins

If you truly want to see human like behaviour in animals then look at the ants. They wage war, take slaves and get drunk.

All life is on a path of evolution so it wouldn't surprise me if somewhere down the line some president doesn't have to wage a war to keep the monkeys from having WMDs.

Wupy

Originally posted by mrwupy
If you truly want to see human like behaviour in animals then look at the ants. They wage war, take slaves and get drunk.

All life is on a path of evolution so it wouldn't surprise me if somewhere down the line some president doesn't have to wage a war to keep the monkeys from having WMDs.

Wupy

well now there's something i hadn't thought about............geesh.....ants getting drunk and taking slaves???

are they taken for SEX SLAVES??


angie

Originally posted by MischeviousElf
Dolphins the monkeys of the sea
Monkeys the dolphins of the trees and air
Man the Idiot of the Land
MischeviouslyMonkyingAboutWithDolphins

How true is that statement, thank you.

Originally posted by mrwupy
If you truly want to see human like behaviour in animals then look at the ants. They wage war, take slaves and get drunk. Wupy

Priceless, I forgot about ants.

It is quite amazing that they recognize themselves and demonstrate that self awareness. It would have been amazing to see what these mammals of the ocean could have done with a working set of arms and hands. I wonder if they would have ever been able to advance further.

Originally posted by infinite8
It is quite amazing that they recognize themselves and demonstrate that self awareness. It would have been amazing to see what these mammals of the ocean could have done with a working set of arms and hands. I wonder if they would have ever been able to advance further.

ever seen the movie..........planet of the apes..............well welcome to planet of the dolphins if they had arms and legs..........


angie

If dolphins are so smart, why do they keep getting caught in our fishing nets?!

... to keep the monkeys from having WMDs.

But...we...already have the nukes.

Ok I'm done.

I see dolphins as our equivalent of the sea. I expect them to eventually evolve the necessary appendages to create items, structures, and dieties (if they havent already).
I'm sure they laugh at us a lot, too.

The "tool" above aka the dolphin and sponge, is mearly a symbiotic relationship. Do you know how many different species coexist in this manner?

Originally posted by TheJeSta
The "tool" above aka the dolphin and sponge, is mearly a symbiotic relationship. Do you know how many different species coexist in this manner?

Actually it is not.
It would be so if the sponge grew on the dolphins snout.
By your logic man building his house out of wood is a symbiotic relationship.

Originally posted by apc
Actually it is not.
It would be so if the sponge grew on the dolphins snout.
By your logic man building his house out of wood is a symbiotic relationship.

Although your first comment was a bit "toolish" apc.

I'd like to point out that the females are the only ones doing this. Apparently the females are smarter than males. (as always)

In all truth, they think it's because males are too busy looking for mates and impressing them that they don't have time to learn this. It is, after all, a cultural thing.

Originally posted by apc
Actually it is not.
It would be so if the sponge grew on the dolphins snout.
By your logic man building his house out of wood is a symbiotic relationship.

Mutualism :

Mutualism is one of the most interesting forms of symbiosis, as it is a benefit to both species involved.

An unusual and ‘clever’ example of mutualism that we were fortunate enough to film in PNG was that of the Boxer crab, Lybia tesselata, which carries a pair of small anemones in it chelipeds (claws). When approached by a predator it waves these around presenting the stinging tentacles so as to deter the marauder. The anemones benefit from the small particles of food dropped by the crab during feeding.


Boxer crab with anemones in claws

www.ms-starship.com...

Well then the Boxer Crab must have an extremely higher I.Q. than ever thought if he is able to also use "tools".

This is simple high school Biology.

Originally posted by TheJeSta
An unusual and ‘clever’ example of mutualism that we were fortunate enough to film in PNG was that of the Boxer crab, Lybia tesselata, which carries a pair of small anemones in it chelipeds (claws). When approached by a predator it waves these around presenting the stinging tentacles so as to deter the marauder. The anemones benefit from the small particles of food dropped by the crab during feeding.

There ya go. In symbiosis both members benefit from the partnership. In the case of the dolphins, the sponges are being used, to no benefit of their own.

True, Amory.

Also, Jetsa, the surface area of a dolphin brain exceeds are own.....it has many more folds in it. However, most of the space has been determined(by MRI, I believe) to be active during times of audio attenuation.........its modus operandi happens to be its ears, as opposed to eyes for us.

That's why they can get caught in our fishing nets, apc!!!

This counts for me as one of the coolest threads lon ATS right now, as the implication seems to be a sentient species that has evolved in a completely different environment.......would love to see what some of their axioms are!!!!

[edit on 7-6-2005 by MemoryShock]

I've seen animal documentories that show things they do that are quite interesting.

Have you seen what I will call the Honey Bird. A Bird that actually leads a tribal people person (I think Africa) to a large cache of Honey?

Then the Tribal person sets smoke to neutralize the Bees and then stealls all the honey while the 'Honey Bird' stays close waiting for his/her piece which is always given.

Amazing !

Dallas

This is slightly off topic but can you imagine if dolphins( and chimps for that matter) have culture. Traditions passed down for generations folklore even?
I would love to study the folklore of another species.

Back on topic though that is pretty amazing. The use of tools is something we take for granted as humans. Its been said many times already on this thread but can you imagine what they could accomplish if they had hands?

Originally posted by Amorymeltzer
There ya go. In symbiosis both members benefit from the partnership. In the case of the dolphins, the sponges are being used, to no benefit of their own.

Sorry to be a prick but I'm going to correct you a bit there.

Parasitism: One organism is harmed the other is benefited
Mutualism: Both organisms are benefiting
Commensalism: One organism is benefited the other is neither helped nor harmed