News & Media
Humans and dolphins work together to fish in southern Brazilian city, ecologist says
Our next story takes us to the coastal town of Laguna in southern Brazil, where bottlenose dolphins hunt for prey.
Dolphins and humans team up to catch fish in Brazil
For more than 140 years, fishers in southeastern Brazil have formed an unusual partnership with local dolphins. In the small coastal city of Laguna, men wait for the marine mammals to swim up a narrow lagoon, herding silvery mullet from the Atlantic Ocean into shallower waters.
When Your Old Fishing Buddy Has a Snout and a Blowhole
Bottlenose dolphins help Brazilian fishermen pull in their catch, and researchers have worked out what the marine mammals get from the cooperative hunting.
Dolphins, humans both benefit from fishing collaboration
A fishing community in southern Brazil has an unusual ally: wild dolphins. Accounts of people and dolphins working together to hunt fish go back millennia, from the time of the Roman Empire near what is now southern France to 19th century Queensland, Australia.
A Famed Dolphin-Human Fishing Partnership Is in Danger of Disappearing
A call for help sounds to ensure survival of a 140-year-old fishing partnership pairing cetaceans and humans
Dolphins that help humans catch fish are more likely to survive
By the shoreline of Laguna in southern Brazil, there is a cemetery with a difference: each cross marks the life of a dolphin that helped the local fishing community by driving mullet towards their nets.
Una “cultura compartida”: los delfines que cooperan con pescadores artesanales para obtener un botín mayor
Los cetáceos de Laguna, en Brasil, colaboran con los humanos empujando los bancos de pescado hacia la playa en la que echan las redes, uno de los últimos casos de coordinación entre personas y vida salvaje
Dolphins, humans both benefit from fishing collaboration
In the seaside city of Laguna, scientists have, for the first time, used drones, underwater sound recordings and other tools to document how local people and dolphins coordinate actions and benefit from each other’s labor.
Dolphins and Humans Partner to Catch Fish
This unusual partnership has been going on for more than 100 years, and scientists have been studying it since the 1980s.
Sperm whale ‘clans’ in the Pacific mark out their culture with songs
The discovery could lead to a better understanding of just what sperm whales are saying to one another.
Sperm whales’ clicking dialects are evidence of ‘non-human culture’ say scientists
Scientists now say in a new study that variations in the whales’ clicking dialects are evidence of “non-human culture” and provide a way for whale groups to mark...
Whale clans use vocalizations to mark their culture
For decades, researchers and the public have been captivated by the deep-diving sperm whales, highly social animals who live in groups of mothers and calves.
Safeguarding human-wildlife cooperation
World is losing ‘magical’ tradition of human-animal mutualism, study warns
Gcina Dlamini blows through a whistle fashioned from a piece of dried fruit in the forest near his home in the town of Lavumisa in Eswatini, the Southern African kingdom previously known as Swaziland.
The last traditions of human-wildlife cooperation could soon be lost
In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, a small, brown bird known as the greater honeyguide leads local honey hunters to nearby bee colonies. It then patiently waits for them to subdue the bees with their smoke and tools, before feeding on the beeswax left behind after the honey has been harvested.
In some places, humans and wildlife are ‘business partners.’ The relationships may not last
Many of us grow attached to animals, whether it’s by raising a puppy or regularly feeding a crow on the porch.
The importance of safeguarding the ancient practice of finding wild honey with birds
In parts of Africa, a small bird called the Greater Honeyguide (Indicator indicator) helps people search for honey. It approaches people and chatters and flies in the direction of a wild bees’ nest, urging the person to follow.
These fishermen-helping dolphins have their own culture
Bottlenose dolphins in Brazil that work alongside fishermen to catch mullet stick together even when it's not mealtime, a new study says.
How dolphins use tools, teamwork, and trickery to get their dinner
From corralling fish in a ring of mud to protecting their noses with sponges, these marine mammals are ingenious foragers.
Dolphins who help fishermen found to also hang out together between meals
In Laguna, Brazil, there are fishermen who have formed an alliance with wild bottlenose dolphins living just offshore, both of whom target mullets, a type of fish.
Brésil : quand dauphins et pêcheurs travaillent ensemble
Des dauphins qui aident des hommes à pêcher. C'est l'étonnante collaboration qui s'est développée à Laguna, dans le sud du Brésil.
Are sperm whales cultured?
It used to be thought that the thing that made humans so special was that we had language and culture. But more and more examples of possible ‘culture’ in animals is being discovered.
How sperm whales form clans through their different ‘dialects’
Sperm whales are big ol' chatterboxes, and the language they speak comes in distinct dialects. The animals likely learned these patterns of clicks, called "coda," from each other, and....
Sperm Whales' Language Reveals Hints of Culture
These deep-diving whales off the Galápagos have their own dialects, a sign that they have a culture.
Sperm whales learn local dialects
Groups of sperm whales communicate using a system of "clicks," and the sounds, like human language, can have identifying dialects.
