Dimensional Door - Freeople Thread 34

Today | Me

[grannie9]

Mornin, Card. Nice and sunny here, but with summer coming to both our places the rain will more the norm.

I just had a treat, yum! My sugar was a little on the low side just now, so I tiefed a piece of Al’s Carrot Cake. heh heh heh. Good excuse, eh?

[Cardhu]

Females love weed - gotta make a note of that...

Weedy but romantic: How dolphins woo a mate by offering algae carried in their teeth

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE - More by this author » Last updated at 09:05am on 7th December 2007

Comments (1)On a first date in the human world, it would guarantee it was also the last.

But for a female dolphin waiting to be wooed, there is nothing more romantic than a spectacular bouquet...of weed.

Researchers have discovered that the male of the species gathers gifts from his submarine environment to present to a potential mate.

Scroll down for more...

Especially for you: A male river dolphin carrying a gift of weed to a mate in Mamiraua.

It could be just a stick, or a lump of debris. But for that really special one, only algae will do.

The findings come from a three-year study in the Brazilian Amazon. Hundreds of males were observed carrying objects in their snouts, and there was convincing evidence that the practice was linked to mating rituals.

Dr Tony Martin, of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, said: "My colleagues were sceptical when I first suggested the idea, but now I think the evidence is overwhelming."

With experts from the National Institute of Amazonian Research in Brazil, he studied 6,026 groups, or pods, of dolphins between 2003 and 2006 in the flooded rainforest reserve of Mamiraua.

Of these, 221 groups included at least one dolphin carrying an object such as weed, a stick or a lump of clay.

These groups usually contained a mixture of adult females and that the objects were mostly being carried by the males.

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Freshwater dolphin: An Amazon river dolphin

The males were far more aggressive to each other in groups where objects were being carried - a clue that the behaviour was linked to sex.

Dr Martin said that if the behaviour was play, females and juveniles would also do it.

Fascinatingly, DNA tests on adults and calves revealed that the males who carried the most objects were the most successful fathers.

Dr Martin told New Scientist magazine that the carrying of objects is a sign of culture - skills and behaviour learned from previous generations, rather than passed down in genes.

Only a few species of animal have culture and most are apes and monkeys.

A second study of bottlenosedolphins in Australia offered further evidence of cultural behaviour.

Some of the creatures were found to break off pieces of marine sponge and hold them over their snouts to protect themselves when probing the ocean floor.

[Cardhu]

My sugar was a little on the low side just now, so I tiefed a piece of Al’s Carrot Cake

I have some algae I can share. dum... de... dum

[null and void]

Ummm, you have something on your teeth...

[grannie9]

My sugar was a little on the low side just now, so I tiefed a piece of Al’s Carrot Cake I have some algae I can share. dum... de... dum

Ohhhhhhh dear, cardy, now I have to go and check my BP.

I must admit...I do looooove greens.

[grannie9]

Ummm...now I think I do. ;)

[Cardhu]

LOL — You never though that algae was the key to success.

[Cardhu]

I have to go and check my BP

Come to Dr. Cardi for a check up little one.

[null and void]

Live and learn.

[Cardhu]

Be back soon - I have to go and stock up on algae stuff.

[grannie9]

LOL....oh boy, lunch!

[derllak]

Egads, Nully! You write that? :P

I’m never out in the cold long enough for ice to cling to my beard. :)

[derllak]

Awww, those dolphins are so sweet. I’ve always loved them, they are so intelligent. I’d love to have on as a pet but my bathtub just isn’t big enough. :)

[null and void]

Ian Anderson. It’s from Aqualung.

[null and void]

And I'm studiously avoiding that visual...

[derllak]

Ian Anderson....never heard of him. Is he your alter ego?
Aqualung - what is that??
You just like to confuse me, don’tcha, Null! :P

[null and void]

Jethro Tull?

[derllak]

Jethro Tull is really Null? Yeah, I can see that.
Now go cut your hair, take a bath and quit being a spaz! :)

[Lady Jag]

Your dolphiin story is sweet!

[Cardhu]

You see LJ it is true - it is not the gift it is the thoughtfulness that counts. :)