Dolphins can recognize their peers not only by their whistling, but also by the taste of their urine. In addition, certain dolphins use corals and sea sponges to self-treat their skin problems. This is evident from the results of two new scientific studies.
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“Dolphins are the first vertebrates in which we have been able to identify each other by taste alone.” This is according to a study published in the journal Science Advances. Observing eight bottlenose dolphins in captivity sought to answer the question whether animals, like humans, can categorize conspecifics as friends. “They keep their mouths open and taste the urine of dolphins they know longer than that of strange dolphins,” researcher Jason Bruck told the French news agency AFP.
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“In the ocean, it’s hard to find others, and identifying acquaintances through taste is an important way to do that,” the study explains. Just like dogs, dolphins inspect the genitals of their congeners. That way they can taste each other’s urine. Urine also has the advantage that it remains in the water for a long time.
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Sound and urine
To find out whether dolphins also recognize each other in this way, the scientists took samples of dolphin urine. Those samples were poured into the water in a first phase. They found that the dolphins spend twice as much time inspecting urine as they do water. Urine samples from known and unknown dolphins were then poured into the water, showing that the animals spend three times as long analyzing the known samples. Finally, the scientists added sound. Dolphins develop a unique sound when they are young. When the dolphin’s whistle matched the sample of urine poured into the water, the animals stayed near the speakers for longer. So the right combination of sound and urine aroused greater interest.
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The discovery could be useful in the future to investigate how ocean pollution is affecting dolphins’ ability to recognize.
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Treating Infections
The animals therefore not only have a good sense of taste, but can also treat their skin problems themselves by using coral. This is the conclusion of a study that was published in the scientific journal ‘iScience’. In this way, scientists discovered seventeen substances with antimicrobial properties in the sea organisms.
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Angela Ziltener, a researcher at the University of Zurich, first discovered the behavior of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in the Red Sea 13 years ago. During diving sessions, she was able to observe the animals up close. Finally, she was able to identify the corals and sea sponges the dolphins were targeting. The researchers found that repeated rubbing against the corals caused the secretion of mucus. That slime was examined under the hypothesis that the dolphins used the rubbing against the corals to address skin problems.
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The investigation found that the corals and sponges in question contained 17 biologically active substances, including substances with antimicrobial properties. With that discovery, the researchers believe dolphins use the mucus to regulate their skin’s microbiome and treat or prevent infections. “There is no evidence of a cure,” says Gertrud Morlock of the University of Giessen, “but rubbing against active-substance marine organisms specially selected by the dolphins for these reasons may mean that direct contact with the skin can do something”, it sounds.
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