Dolphin tricks catch on in the wild: study
Dolphins can learn tricks from each other, reports Lucinda Cameron, of BPA.
DOLPHINS can learn tricks such as walking on water from each other in the wild, a 30year study reveals.
Scientists in Australia observed that dolphins in Adelaide learned tailwalking from an animal called Billie which had spent time in a dolphinarium after being rescued from a polluted creek in January 1988.
Tailwalking involves a dolphin rising vertically out of the water and then moving forward or backwards across it.
Dolphins rarely do this in the wild but it is a standard part of the routine in most dolphinaria.
Billie learned tailwalking by observing the performing dolphins and, when released, began performing the trick regularly in the wild.
The behaviour then faded away after several years and the most prolific tailwalker died in 2014.
The study was led by Whale and Dolphin Conservation with the Universities of St Andrews and Exeter.
Dr Mike Bossley, of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, lead author of the paper, said it was only because he had been studying the Adelaide dolphins for more than 30 years that the significance of tailwalking was recognised.
‘‘I knew Billie’s history and was able to track her behaviour and that of the other dolphins in the community over an extended period.
‘‘This enabled me to observe tailwalking spread through the community and then its eventual fade away.’’
Researchers said if Billie was the only dolphin to perform the trick it would have been nothing more than an interesting example of individual social learning.
However, after she returned to the wild, other dolphins in the local community soon began performing the behaviour.
By 2011 nine dolphins had been observed tailwalking in the wild.
After 2011 the number of dolphins tailwalking in the wild declined. After the most prolific tailwalker died in 2014, only two tailwalkers remained, both of which performed the behaviour only sporadically.