Dolphin mums teach daughters to sponge

Researchers have seen dolphins using tools for the first time, and they say the practice seems to be passed down from mother to daughter. Dolphins use a piece of sponge to coax fish out from under the sea floor, the first time material culture, or the use of tools, has been seen in cetaceans.

The international research is published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“It seems highly likely that sponging is culturally transmitted mainly within a matriline, ie, daughters learn this behaviour from their mothers,” reports lead author Dr Michael Kr