Dolphins prepare food like a chef

Scientists say dolphins are the true chefs of the ocean. They often perform a sophisticated food preparation process, such as removing squid and bone of squid to create a delicious, soft lining.

Bottlenose dolphin in the Indian-Pacific waters.

The Telegraph reported that scientists had observed a wild female dolphin (bottlenose dolphin) in the Indian-Pacific waters carrying out a series of complicated steps to prepare the ink before eat at Spencer Bay, South Australia.

Tom Tregenza - co-author of dolphin research at the University of Exeter (UK) - said that he and his colleagues have recorded the above behavior of the "dolphin" in the period from 2003 - 2007. And this does not seem to be a rare phenomenon. " In addition to our observations, the divers in the area also saw dolphins processing squid fish in the same way ," the research team emphasized.

The team described, they have repeatedly seen a female dolphin repeatedly besieged in the seaweed and drove them out to the sand more openly on the sea floor.

This picture illustrates the process of processing squid before eating dolphins. Photo: Seaway Blog.

The dolphin then uses the muzzle to pinch the squid while holding its head upside down, then kills the prey immediately with a quick downward force and produces a loud cry that the divers judge as a sound. broken bone.

Next, the dolphin stood up and used its nose to hit the squid to wring out the toxic black water in the ink nozzle (the weapon that squid usually sprayed on the water to defend itself when attacked). The prey is then pulled back to the sea floor, where the dolphin " chef " rubs it into the sand to strip off the ink, making the prey become softer to eat.

"It is a sign of how much the dolphin's brain grows. This is a relatively smart way to have pure squid without being mixed in ," said Mark Norman, the curator. soft object at Victoria Museum, said.

A separate 2005 study provided the first evidence that dolphins were able to learn in groups and use tools. Researchers even saw a mother dolphin teach girls to smash sponges and wear them on their bodies to protect themselves when rubbing on the seabed in Western Australia.