Dolphins Use Sponge as Tool

[kach22i]

If Dolphin's are so smart why don't they have tools, live in houses and drive SUV's to work?

Maybe they they have it to easy in the sea - I mean it's adversity which makes us take up technology. It's that whole 42 latitude thing the Nazi's came up with, no one in paradise had to make a better pot bellied stove, right?

Given enough time and if we flood the Earth because of Global Warming, will the Dolphins ever become the dominate species of the Earth?

Makes for good Sci-Fi.

Back to the real thing............................................

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050606/dolphin.html
Study: Dolphins Use Sponge as Tool
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

June 6, 2005— The use of sponges as tools among some dolphins could be the first documented case of a material culture in a marine mammal species.

The behavior, called sponging, involves a dolphin affixing a marine sponge over its snout to protect itself while it pokes and prods for fish on the sea floor. Researchers believe the use of this sponge tool is a fishing technique that mother dolphins teach to their children. .................................................

.................Mitochondrial DNA, for example, would pass down to both sons and daughters, but females mostly engage in sponging. The single male sponger, however, suggested that a female-only chromosome, even a recessive one, is not at work. Krützen believes mothers teaching their offspring is the only other possible explanation for the sponge glove usage.

Most male dolphins simply may not have a lot of time for sponging.

"If they are sexually mature, they spend a significant amount of time chasing females, in particular in breeding season," Krützen told Discovery News.

If they are sexually mature, they (males) spend a significant amount of time chasing females, in particular in breeding season

Boys will be boys.


More of the same:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0607_050607_dolphin_tools.html
Dolphin Moms Teach Daughters to Use Tools
James Owen
for National Geographic News
June 7, 2005

Researchers now report this odd hunting technique originated in a single female and is passed from mother to daughter.

Basing their findings on genetic analysis, the team suggests that this so-called sponging behavior represents the first known example of tool-related culture in cetaceans. Cetaceans are a group of mostly marine animals, including whales and dolphins...........................

The haunting songs of humpback whale males have been compared to our pop charts, with the whales changing their tunes in unison across entire oceans.

Michael Krützen referred to a "cultural revolution" in Australian humpback whales, "where one particularly popular song was replaced by a new one at sweeping speed."

A whale top ten song list?

[widebody911]

Originally posted by kach22i
If Dolphin's are so smart why don't they have tools, live in houses and drive SUV's to work?

Maybe that's what makes them smarter...

Given enough time and if we flood the Earth because of Global Warming, will the Dolphins ever become the dominate species of the Earth?

I, for one, welcome our new Dolphin overlords, but in reality, they'll be long gone before that. The Vogons are building a hyperspace bypass, didn't you know? The plans have been on display in the planning office on Alpha Centauri for the previous fifty years.

[dhoward]

It's not easy being sponge-worthy....

[id10t]

So long, and thanks for all the fish...

[legion]

Don't forget a towel.

[oldE]

Boy, are the Japanese ever in trouble!
Les

[KNS]

Who knows... If dolphins had opposable thumbs the world (undersea world) might be a different place.

[Jim Richards]

Another failed "Campaign to Save the Humans"

[legion]

Earth: Mostly harmless.

[TerryBPP]

Originally posted by widebody911

I concur. Now where is my tinfoil hat.

[Jim Richards]

So, what do the mice of all of this?

[Jim Richards]

D'oh! Yes, think. That's why I'm a member of the 3rd most intelligent species on the planet.

[RoninLB]

good dolphin tech book

"To Touch a Wild Dolphin"

[JavaBrewer]

Originally posted by widebody911
The Vogons are building a hyperspace bypass, didn't you know? The plans have been on display in the planning office on Alpha Centauri for the previous fifty years.

Probably the funniest line from the movie.

[Purrybonker]

Originally posted by dmoolenaar
Probably the funniest line from the movie.

..well, er - probably the only funny line in the movie. Whattan overrated snoozefest.

[teenerted1]

If they are sexually mature, they (males) spend a significant amount of time chasing females, in particular in breeding season


of course the females use the sponge.

who would want any protection while they are trying to breed anyway