Dolphin Bubble Rings

When you think about learning, most likely classrooms, online courses, universities, or mentors come to mind. But did you know that dolphins can learn (and teach) as well?

At SeaWorld, amazing footage has been recorded of dolphins teaching each other how to blow bubble rings. The dolphins blow the bubble rings out of their blowholes, similar to the way humans can make smoke rings using their mouths. When this behavior was first observed, only a few dolphins knew how to make the rings. Other dolphins learned this behavior from studying the ring-makers, perhaps because the ring-makers would pop their rings before others could play with them.

This teaching behavior opens up new ideas about dolphins as an intelligent species. Many species pass on knowledge from generation to generation: for example, carnivores teach their offspring how to hunt, and herbivores teach their children how to hide. However, dolphins are one of the few species that are able to learn a new behavior, and then teach it to others of their kind.

Dolphin bubble rings aren't the first example of dolphins learning new tricks from each other. In 2008, scientists noticed an interesting behavior among dolphins: the ability to teach learned tricks. In this case, a female dolphin who had once lived in captivity taught a group of wild dolphins the trick of tail-walking across the water.

It was noted in the SeaWorld film that female dolphins seem to participate more in the bubble-ring-blowing behavior then male dolphins. This isn't surprising; in the wild, it is the female dolphins who use tools. They even pass this knowledge on to future generations by teaching it to their daughters. It is possible that female dolphins do this because using tools improves on their weaknesses (as compared to the larger, stronger males), similar to the way it is believed female humans invented weapons for the same reason.

Humans have learned much from studying dolphins over the years. Scientists have applied this knowledge by using dolphins to help treat children with disabilities, and to locate underwater mines during wartime. The bubble ring phenomenon shows that there are still many secrets to learn about these gentle water creatures.