Dolphins' Hunting Tools Mostly Used by Females

Rash of strandings puzzles experts

(NEWSER) - Volunteers in Cape Cod are scrambling to deal with an unusual spate of dolphin strandings. A solitary dolphin was found stranded last Thursday and dozens more followed in the days after. Nineteen were treated and released but eight others couldn't be saved, and another 32 washed ashore already dead, MSNBC reports. More»

California researcher broke law with blubber, feds say

(NEWSER) - A renowned marine biologist has landed in hot water for giving blubber to killer whales. Nancy Black, who runs whale-watching tours in California's Monterey Bay, has been indicted by a grand jury on charges that she violated a federal law banning feeding or otherwise interfering with marine mammals in the wild, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Her lawyer says all she did was attach a rope to a free-floating piece of blubber from a gray whale, killed earlier by orcas, in order to film killer whales eating. More»

Creature was 'right under our noses': researcher

(NEWSER) - For just the fourth time in more than a century, researchers have identified a new species of dolphin—and the Aussie scientists didn’t have to look far. Two dolphin populations in Australia, numbering about 150 in total, were once believed to be bottlenose dolphins; turns out they’re genetically different from any other species, CNN and Radio Australia report. “This animal has been living right under our noses for so many years,” says one of the researchers. More»

But rescuers are ultimately able to save only four

(NEWSER) - Rescue crews saved four long-finned pilot whales after a mass stranding in Western Australia’s Hamelin Bay, but scores of others died, the West Australian reports. Eighty-seven whales and dolphins beached Monday, prompting more than 250 volunteers and 100 conservation workers to spend a near-freezing night on the beach nursing the survivors with by pouring water on them and making sure their blowholes were clear. More»

(NEWSER) - A bottlenose dolphin that researchers have been tracking since 2003 follows a complex regimen when preparing a meal of cuttlefish, National Geographic reports. The female dolphin, caught on tape off the coast of Australia, first kills the squid-like creature, shakes it to remove indigestible ink, and then scrapes its catch on the seafloor to remove a pesky bone. Only then is it dinnertime. More»