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New government marine wildlife code to help reduce dolphin disturbance

The launch today by UK Government of new guidance on how to act responsibly around...

UK government to extend ivory ban to stop the sale of orca teeth

Following the UK ban on the import, export and dealing of elephant ivory in 2022,...

Dead whale beauty products to be sold in Japanese vending machine stores

Antarctic minke whale alongside Japanese whaling ship. Photo © Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert Japanese whale hunting company,...

Arrests made following illegal whale meat smuggling from Japan to South Korea

Customs authorities in Busan, South Korea, have arrested six people for allegedly smuggling at least...

Were sea otters using tools long before dolphins?

A new report suggests that sea otters in the Pacific north-west may have been using tools to unlock their prey from shells long before dolphins in other parts of the world learnt such skills.

Sea otters in some populations will sometimes be seen floating on their backs and using use rocks and other hard objects to open the shells of food such as marine snails where they form part of their diet. Indo-pacific dolphins in locations such as Shark Bay in western Australia have been recorded putting sponges on their snouts as they hunt for fish under the sand to avoid injury from hidden rocks or coral pieces.

A long-term study looking at the genes of otters off the coast of California revealed that otters in all three sub-species had the ability to use tools open the shells. Even young and orphaned otters appeared to have this skill without having learnt it, when presented with this food type. The researcher’s findings suggest that the behaviour may therefore go back many generations, possibly thousands or even millions of years. 

In comparison, the dolphin’s use of sponges was confined to more closely-related individuals within a population, and perhaps goes back just a few hundred years.

Mitogenomes and relatedness do not predict frequency of tool-use by sea otters
Katherine Ralls, Nancy Rotzel McInerney, Roderick B. Gagne, Holly B. Ernest, M. Tim Tinker, Jessica Fujii, Jesus Maldonado

About George Berry

George is a member of WDC's Communications team and website coordinator.