Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

‘I was screaming’: Scientists shocked as dolphins filmed using shells to trap prey for the first time
New York Post ^ | Aug. 15, 2026 | Ben Cost

Posted on 08/15/2026 12:32:27 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Researchers are shell-shocked at the latest marine discovery.

Dolphins have been filmed using shells to ensnare their prey off the coast of Australia, marking the first time this clever tactic has been caught on camera, per a bombshell paper in Marine Mammal Science.

“The second I saw that shell in the air, I immediately knew what was happening,” the study’s head author, Alexis Levengood, a marine mammal biologist at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, told ScienceAlert. Levengood said she and her team were on a research vessel off Hervey Bay when they spotted a female Pacific bottlenose “dolphin raising something large out of the water,” the BBC reported.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Science
KEYWORDS: dolphins; food; science
Message from Jim Robinson:

Dear FRiends,

We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.

If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you,

Jim


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last


1 posted on 08/15/2026 12:32:27 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Alexis was shell shocked.


2 posted on 08/15/2026 12:36:29 PM PDT by DFG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Kinda big for a 12ga...


3 posted on 08/15/2026 12:36:47 PM PDT by Adder ("A pack of jackasses led by a lion is superior to a pack of lions led by a jackass.” GW.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Dolphins are smart and fish are dumb.


4 posted on 08/15/2026 12:46:16 PM PDT by packagingguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DFG

Would you flip ‘er?


5 posted on 08/15/2026 12:57:26 PM PDT by Fester Chugabrew (/s/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
marking the first time this clever tactic has been caught on camera, per a bombshell paper in Marine Mammal Science.

Bombshell??

These are the same type of scientists who think it is a "bombshell" when it becomes cold, hot, rainy, sunny, cloudy.

Next thing you know, they will be studying scorpions, with "bombshell" reports every time a scorpion acts like.....well...... a scorpion.

C'mon, Man!

6 posted on 08/15/2026 1:02:10 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ronaldus Magnus III

Now, if the Dolphin was using a power-drill, I’d be impressed...


7 posted on 08/15/2026 1:05:51 PM PDT by Empire_of_Liberty
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Ronaldus Magnus III

Scientists shocked to Discover that
Dylan Mulvaney is ACTUALLY a GUY!!


8 posted on 08/15/2026 1:07:55 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They Did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
This reminds me of the time I caught my cat flawlessly playing Beethoven on the piano.
To be honest, I didn’t think he’d even get past “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”.


9 posted on 08/15/2026 1:09:58 PM PDT by Leaning Right
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

“‘I was screaming’: Scientists shocked as dolphins filmed using shells to trap prey for the first time”. Dolphins are going to dolphin now.


10 posted on 08/15/2026 1:42:25 PM PDT by kawhill (Dywedwch + Add translation Welsh-English dictionary 'Tell Us')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

According to George Costanza, no golf balls were found in the vicinity.


11 posted on 08/15/2026 1:50:32 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (q)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

“Flipper! Where’s Bud?”

“Eeeeeee! Eeeeeeee!”

“Get that stupid shell off your mouth!”

Splash

“He’s in the lighthouse!”


12 posted on 08/15/2026 1:52:40 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer” )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

13 posted on 08/15/2026 1:55:25 PM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Empire_of_Liberty

Had a vague memory of what turns out to be the Hundredth Monkey effect, which after years of controversy was mostly discredited as a myth based on coincidence.

One Japanese macaque or snow monkey on the island of Kōjima learned to wash the gritty sand off sweet potatoes to make them edible, followed by allegedly totally separate monkeys elsewhere suddenly picking up that practice, too.

Later it was proven they just got it off the YouTube videos (kidding).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredth_monkey_effect


14 posted on 08/15/2026 1:56:11 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

Hahahahaha one of my favorite movies!


15 posted on 08/15/2026 2:18:25 PM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: DFG

The fact the dolphin had a shell on its beak doesn’t indicate any use , does it? Where is there evidence it was using the shell, rather than trying to eat whatever was in the shell? What kind of shell was it anyway?


16 posted on 08/15/2026 2:48:27 PM PDT by IWONDR ( Res)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

A balone.......


17 posted on 08/15/2026 2:51:31 PM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ronaldus Magnus III

It’s sophisticated tool use and it’s not instinctive; it must be taught mother to young. It’s a pretty big discovery.


18 posted on 08/15/2026 3:09:21 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (You choose; a world without dogs or a world without muslims.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

If Dolphins only had opposable thumbs, they would rule the world in a “So Long and Thanks for All the Fish” manner.


19 posted on 08/15/2026 3:26:21 PM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (America -- July 4, 1776 to November 3, 2020 -- R.I.P.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
‘I was screaming’

Very unscientific reaction. A Karen "scientist"?

20 posted on 08/15/2026 3:56:57 PM PDT by GingisK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson