The tail-walking is believed to have been passed down a generation, from an adult female called Billie who spent time in Australian captivity 22 years ago. She supposedly taught another adult female, Wave, as well as their offspring Tallula, Bianca, Hope and Bubbles (I’m not suggesting they were lesbian dolphins – there’s no word on whether the fathers learned the tail-walking too).
According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society of Australia, they’re tail-walking several times a day, just for fun, which sure beats trawling RSS and eating endless bowls of cereal, doesn’t it?
Not only is this cool for visual reasons (dancing dolphins!), but it also shows that the animals don’t just pass on practical knowledge to one another such as ways to hunt, but also “unnecessary” practices such as having some good old-fashioned fun. [Telegraph via The Scuttlefish]
Image via DFRobbins/Flickr
Phillip Harsant
Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 10:37 AMWhen they pass on the knowledge of murder cove in Japan and all move to safer waters then I will be impressed.
Kate Goodson
Friday, November 5, 2010 at 1:19 AMI’ve personally seen wild dolphins going fully up on their tails here in Virginia, USA. Ten years ago I saw a dolphin come out of the water and scooch backwards with only it’s tail in the water about 7 feet. This was in the James River, Virginia. I was stunned. I also recently saw a dolphin come up on it’s tail and scoot in a circle while watching bottle nose dolphins off the coast of Virginia Beach, VA. This isn’t a man made trick. They do it all on their own. No freed “Flipper” here in the Virginia pods.
Simon Reidy
Friday, November 5, 2010 at 3:57 PMWhat awesome animals. It makes me sick that they are still being slaughtered around the world.