The researchers believe the glove technique might have originated from a female that they think lived not too long ago and just came up with the technique on her own.
Dolphins use other clever fishing techniques, such as "kerplunking," or slapping the water's surface to create a vortex that seems to stun fish. Sponging, however, is the only known example of tool use.
Hal Whitehead, one of the world's leading cetacean biologists, told Animal Planet News that he is convinced by the new research. He said material culture probably is rare in marine mammals, although he has seen animals "apparently playing with logs or seaweed," which perhaps might serve as tools.
Carel van Schaik, an anthropologist at the University of Zurich who has studied culture among orangutans, also agrees with the dolphin findings.
"The sponges are obviously some kind of tool, and the distribution strongly suggests social transmission of what is not a common skill," van Schaik told Animal Planet News.
"I was not surprised because dolphins have been convincingly shown to be good imitators, and it would be unlikely that such a specialized, derived ability would simply go completely unused in the wild," van Schaik said.
Name: Bottle-Nosed Dolphin (
Tursiops truncatus)
Primary Classification: Odontoceti (Toothed Whales)
Location: Worldwide
Habitat: Tropical coastal waters and open ocean.
Diet: Fish, crustaceans and mollusks.
Size: Up to 13 ft in length and 1,100 lbs in weight.
Description: Short bottle-shaped beak; conical teeth, tall dorsal fin; largest of the beaked dolphins; large brain
Cool Facts: It will aid fellow dolphins in distress, allowing them to breathe by supporting them at the water's surface. It is born with hair on its beak.
Conservation Status: Common
