Dolphins learn from each other to walk on water
While it is well known that dolphins are easily trained to perform tricks, a new 30-year study, led by Whale and Dolphin Conservation with the universities of St Andrews (Dr Luke Rendell) and Exeter, reveals dolphins also learn tricks from each other in the wild.
The research, to be published in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters, focused on a scientific analysis of Adelaide’s famous tail walking dolphins. The paper described how tail walking was learned by a single dolphin called Billie, copied by other dolphins in the local community, and then apparently fading out over time.
You can read more on the university news web page or in today’s email edition of In-the-Loop, or listen to Luke’s Wednesday morning BBC4 interview (47.50 minutes in) with Nick Robinson.