Sponges - The Latest in Schnoz Protection

Here's an interesting little tidbit from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. It seems that dolphins around Shark Bay, Western Australia have been observed tearing sponges from the sea floor to use as snout armor when foraging for food. Apparently poking their bazoos into crevices and along the sandy bottom results in scrapes and scuffs and stings from various nasties. Some of the dolphins, mostly the females, have found that wearing a sponge is a good thing, like gardeners wearing gloves. The young ones, who spend up to four years with their moms before weaning, learn to sponge by watching mom, and it gets passed down the family line. This is huge, since animals using tools is a relatively rare thing, behavior that is usually limited to humans and other primates.

What I found especially amusing is that it's just the females who have figured out this sponge idea. The males must think it's sissy behavior, so they continue getting bruised and stung. Apparently they'd rather be macho and spend their time checking out the gals.

A quote from the article says: "Only one male was observed using a sponge. (Michael) Kruetzen noted that, as adults, male and female dolphins have very different lifestyles.

Adult males form small groups of two or three individuals that chase females in reproductive condition, he explained. `I would think that they do not have time to engage in such a time-consuming foraging activity as adults, as they are busy herding females.'"

Hmm. Now why does this sound so familiar?