Among Dolphins, Tool-Using Handymen Are Women

In the deep, lucid channels of Australia's Shark Bay, wild bottlenose dolphins have discovered tools, raising provocative questions about the origins of intelligent behavior, the nature of learning and the birth of technology.

There, dolphins in one extended family routinely use sponges to protect their noses as they forage for fish hidden in the abrasive seafloor sand, Georgetown University scientists reported earlier this month.

One of the few male spongers with a bright orange sponge.
As best the researchers can tell, a single dolphin may have invented the technique relatively recently and taught it to her kin. The simple innovation dramatically changed their behavior, hunting habits and social life, the researchers found. Those that adopted it became loners who spend much more time on the hunt than others and dive more deeply in search of prey. The sponging dolphins teach the technique to all their young, but only the females seem to grasp the idea.