Bottlenose dolphins may use corals to help treat skin infections

[Judi Lynn]

20 May 2022
/
Matilda Handsley-Davis



Dolphins observed “queuing” to rub against corals that may have medicinal properties.

Dolphins need a bit of skincare from time to time, new international research suggests.

A paper published in the journal iScience has reported that Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins rub themselves against corals in reefs off the coast of Egypt. Co-lead author on the paper, Angela Ziltener of the University of Zurich in Switzerland, first observed this behaviour over a decade ago.

“I hadn’t seen this coral rubbing behaviour described before, and it was clear that the dolphins knew exactly which coral they wanted to use,” says Ziltener. “I thought, ‘There must be a reason.’”



A bottlenose dolphin calf being taught how to rub against the coral by its mother. Credit: Angela Ziltener.

“Many people don’t realise that these coral reefs are bedrooms for the dolphins, and playgrounds as well,” Ziltener continues. According to her, the dolphins will often head over to the corals after waking up from a nap – much as a human might shower after getting out of bed. They will even form queues to wait their turn for a coral session.

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/bottlenose-dolphins-use-coral-skincare/

[RKP5637]

1. Your posts are always so informative and interesting!!!

[Judi Lynn]

3. It's always a complete surprise and mystery to me, every day. So much to discover!

People who think they know it all never are open to find out if they're right, do they?

The information is all out there and will keep us busy forever, looking to find it.

So glad if any of this are worth while to you. Thank you for your post, RKP5637.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Watch Dolphins Line Up To Self-Medicate Skin Ailments At Coral "Clinics"

May 20, 2022 Cell Press

. . .

If a human comes down with a rash, they might go to the doctor and come away with some ointment to put on it. Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins get skin conditions, too, but they come about their medication by queuing up nose-to-tail to rub themselves against corals. In the journal iScience on May 19, researchers show that these corals have medicinal properties, suggesting that the dolphins are using the marine invertebrates to medicate skin conditions.

Thirteen years ago, co-lead author Angela Ziltener (@DWAORG), a wildlife biologist at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, first observed dolphins rubbing against coral in the Northern Red Sea, off the coast of Egypt. She and her team noticed that the dolphins were selective about which corals they rubbed against, and they wanted to understand why. “I hadn’t seen this coral rubbing behavior described before, and it was clear that the dolphins knew exactly which coral they wanted to use,” says Ziltener. “I thought, ‘There must be a reason.’”

Most dolphin research is conducted from the surface of the water, but because Ziltener is a diver, she was able to study the dolphins up close. It took some time to earn the trust of the pod, which she was able to do in part because these dolphins weren’t phased by the large bubbles released by the diving tanks and habituated towards divers. “Some dolphins, like spinner dolphins in the Southern Egyptian Red Sea, are shyer regarding bubbles,” she says.

Once the pod allowed her to visit them regularly, she and her colleagues were able to identify and sample the corals that the dolphins were rubbing on. Ziltener and her team found that by repeatedly rubbing against the corals, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins were agitating the tiny polyps that make up the coral community, and these invertebrates were releasing mucus. In order to understand what properties the mucus contained, the team collected samples of the coral.

More:
https://scienceblog.com/530707/watch-dolphins-line-up-to-self-medicate-skin-ailments-at-coral-clinics/

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