<p>A few years ago, scientists observed that some bottle-nosed dolphins held sponges in their beaks as they poked around the ocean floor, flushing out fish they promptly gobbled up---and that <a href="/planet-earth/sponge-wielding-dolphins-teach-their-daughters-how-to-use-tools" title="">mothers taught this trick to their daughters</a>. In a <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0022243" title="">follow-up study</a> published yesterday, the scientists shed some light on why dolphins go to all this trouble: They're after fatty, energy-rich fish on the seafloor, and the sponges let them scare up a snack without scraping their beaks on sharp rocks or coral. [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0022243" title="">PLoS One</a> via <a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/07/why-dolphins-wear-sponges.html" title="">ScienceNOW</a>] </p><div class="vert-display-toggle collapsible relative flex flex-col items-center "><div class="vert-unit mt-4 mb-3 top-20"><div ad-type="mobile-desktop" class="ad-wrapper vert min-h-boombox flex items-start justify-center" data-ad-mapping="inline" data-ad-slot="Discover/inline-ad" id="div-inline-ad-0"></div></div><span aria-label="Advertisement" class="text-ad mt-1 text-[11px] uppercase">Advertisement</span></div>

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Discover how bottle-nosed dolphins use sponges in their beaks to hunt energy-rich fish on the ocean floor.

Planet Earth

Dolphins Protect Themselves With Sponges To Seek Out Bottom-Dwelling Fish

Article

News

Valerie Ross

Science

A few years ago, scientists observed that some bottle-nosed dolphins held sponges in their beaks as they poked around the ocean floor, flushing out fish they promptly gobbled up---and that mothers taught this trick to their daughters. In a follow-up study published yesterday, the scientists shed some light on why dolphins go to all this trouble: They're after fatty, energy-rich fish on the seafloor, and the sponges let them scare up a snack without scraping their beaks on sharp rocks or coral. [PLoS One via ScienceNOW]

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