It is easy to think of humans as being the only animals that are capable of cooperation in order to accomplish tasks and achieve goals, but a study published in Animal Cognition showed that some of the most intelligent animals on the planet, bottlenose dolphins, are able to cooperate with one another. Research findings have shown that when presented with a task that is almost impossible to do alone, the dolphins will use teamwork to get to the reward inside the contraption.
In order to test cooperative behaviors, six bottlenose dolphins in Key Largo were presented with an apparatus made of PVC pipe sealed with caps on both ends and affixed with two GoPro cameras. Only one cap was able to come off, revealing fish, gelatin, and ice in the PVC pipe. The easiest way to access the treat was for one dolphin to grab one roped cap, the other dolphin to grab the other roped cap, and for the two dolphins to pull in opposite directions. The dolphins were never trained in how to do this; after seeing the food placed in the tube the dolphins opened the contraption to get to the treat. Alfonz and Kimbit, the two dominant dolphins in the group, interacted as a team more often than they tried to open it alone. After opening the device was opened, Alfonz and Kimbit worked together to release the fish and allowed the dominant female, Samantha, to eat the spoils of their labor before the dolphins tugged the apparatus back to the dock together.
Next time you are at the the beach, keep an eye out for a pod of dolphins. Watch as the breach the surface and glide back down under the waves. The motion appears fluid, synchronistic, beautiful. This is not an accident. Dolphins are capable of cooperating with one another to travel, protect, and find food. So next time you see one at the beach or in an aquarium, think about how much more complex these creatures are than you probably ever realized.
Reference: Kuczaj, S., Winship, K., & Eskelinen, H. (2015). Can bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus) cooperate when solving a novel task?. Animal Cognition, 18(2), 543-550. doi:10.1007/s10071-014-0822-4
Gillian Sayre
October 10, 2017 — 2:10 am
It’s interesting how the dolphins were working together even with none of the results going to them in the case of the dominant female getting the reward.