Somewhere in the warm, clear waters off the coast of Australia, a mature bottlenose dolphin is swimming with her daughter. It’s dinnertime. But, instead of chasing down a fish in open waters like she usually does, mom swims over to a basket sponge growing on the ocean floor. In a deft move, she breaks off a piece of the sponge, then fits it snugly over her rostrum — her beak. It’s hard not to wonder what that curious, watchful youngster might be thinking about all this. Are you going to eat that sponge? Are we playing?
With the sponge secured on her beak, the older dolphin starts sweeping her head back and forth across the ocean floor. She’s looking for bottom‐dwelling fish like the sand perch, which hide themselves on the floor of the sea under layers of sand. As for the sponge stuck onto her rostrum, it allows her ...
