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The news of orcas or killer whales attacking ships and sinking them on the Iberian coast in Europe has fascinated the people of the world by the strange performance of these creatures; But these sleek swimmers aren’t the only ocean dwellers that have learned how to respond to the presence of humans in their territory.
to report Science Alert, researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia suspect that bottlenose dolphins living in Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Australia are training each other to beg or ask for fish from boats. Between 2017 and 2020, marine science researchers noticed that dolphins were approaching recreational fishing boats and feeding on scraps of food thrown to them by humans.
Leonie Heusser, a researcher at the University of Queensland, explains that he noticed this strange phenomenon while doing a thesis on the social structures of dolphins. While conducting his study in Moreton Bay, he says, he observed a network of dolphins constantly patrolling around moored boats, waiting for recreational fishermen to illegally dump bait or discards and waste into the water.
Fishing is very common in Moreton Bay and some dolphins seem to have learned how to take advantage of it. Currently, feeding dolphins in the bay is illegal; But it is difficult to enforce this rule when the fishing boats are far from the shore. Recently, in another bay near Brisbane, authorities fined a man several hundred dollars for feeding dolphins.
This law may seem like a disproportionate punishment for doing a good deed; But feeding dolphins can be very harmful for each of these animals and their herds. Researchers warn that throwing fish and waste to dolphins exposes them to serious risks of behavioral changes and collisions with passing boats.
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