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To Help With Hunting, Some Dolphins Use a Sponge
Strange Dolphin
Hunting Aid: a Sponge
Jul 16, 2025 10:30 AM CDT

Strange Dolphin Hunting Aid: a Sponge

They wear them to scrounge up prey, but it's harder than it looks

(Newser) - Some dolphins in Australia have a special technique to flush fish from the seafloor: They hunt with a sponge on their beak, like a clown nose. Using the sponge to protect from sharp rocks, the dolphins swim with their beaks covered, shoveling through rubble at the bottom of sandy channels...

Florida Man Gets 30 Days for Killing Dolphins

Charter captain shot, poisoned bottlenose dolphins

(Newser) - "He knew the regulations protecting dolphins, yet he killed them anyway—once in front of children," federal prosecutor Adam Gustafson says of Florida fisherman Zackery Barfield. The 31-year-old charter and fishing captain has been sentenced to 30 days in prison and a year of supervised release for shooting...

Grisly Sight on New Jersey Beach: A Butchered Dolphin

Feds are investigating after disturbing find

(Newser) - A very precisely butchered dolphin was found on a New Jersey shore, prompting a "very disturbing call" to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center and a federal investigation, reports NJ101.5 . More:
  • The find: The animal, a common dolphin, was found in Allenhurst. A post from the center describes the
...

NOAA Says Young Dolphin Was Shot Multiple Times

Agency is offering $20K reward in Louisiana case

(Newser) - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is trying to track down a person who shot a young bottlenose dolphin multiple times last month. The agency is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to a conviction or civil penalty in the Louisiana case, CNN reports. In a news release...

4 People Attacked by Dolphins on Japan Beach

Officials are warning swimmers away from the water if dolphins are seen

(Newser) - Over the course of one day on a central Japan beach, four people were attacked by dolphins. Early Sunday, a man in his 60s was attacked a few yards off the popular Suishohama Beach in the town of Mihama, Fukui prefecture; he was left with broken ribs and bites to...

Out of Canada, 'News to Splash a Fin At'

'Free Willy' act, which would bar holding whales, dolphins in captivity, about to become law

(Newser) - "Breaking: Victory!" That was the exuberant message from Canada's Green Party on Monday, when the country's House of Commons passed a bill aimed at protecting marine life there. CNN reports on the "Free Willy" bill—named for the 1993 flick in which a boy "...

Dolphin Washes Up After Eating Plastic Hose

It's the second time in a month trash was found in a postmortem exam

(Newser) - A male bottlenose dolphin that stranded this month on a Florida beach had eaten a 2-foot plastic shower hose, including a nozzle and metal radiator clamp. The hose appears to be from a camping rig, the News-Press reports. A female rough-toothed dolphin calf that washed up last month in Fort...

1.1K Mutilated Dolphins Wash Up on French Shores

Deaths blamed on industrial fishing

(Newser) - The dolphins' bodies were horribly mutilated, the fins cut off. But what shocked French marine researchers wasn't just the brutality of the deaths of these highly intelligent mammals, but the numbers involved—a record 1,100 have landed on France's Atlantic coast beaches since January. The mass deaths,...

On a California Beach, a 'Vicious Act of Brutality'

There's a $5,000 reward for anyone with info leading to conviction for the person who shot dolphin to death

(Newser) - Want to make $5,000? If you know who shot and killed a dolphin in California, the money is yours if you have info that leads to a conviction. "There is NO excuse for such brutality against these beautiful animals," Marine Animal Rescue of El Segundo writes on...

A Marine Park Was Abandoned in January. Its Animals Remain

Photos of dolphin, penguins spark public outcry at Japan's Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium

(Newser) - A solitary bottlenose dolphin swims in a small pool enclosed by a rusty railing. Not far away, dust-covered penguins wander over chunks of concrete and other debris. This has been life at Japan's Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium since January when its owner abandoned it, citing a decline in visitors....

As 'Smirking' Porpoise Nears Extinction, US Sends in Military Dolphins

The vaquita, or 'little cow,' is caught up in fishing nets and insatiable thirst from China

(Newser) - The world's smallest porpoise is also ever smaller in number, its population decimated in recent decades thanks to what the Washington Post describes as "a cruel mixture of fishing nets and economics." The vaquita, or "little cow," has gotten tangled up in fish nets since...

New Dolphin Species Hid in Museum for 55 Years

Meet Arktocara yakataga

(Newser) - The discoverers of a brand new dolphin species didn't even have to leave the office to make their find, UPI reports. Smithsonian curator Nicholas Pyenson and researcher Alexandra Boersma were presumably going about their business when—in Boersma's words—"this beautiful little skull from Alaska" jumped out...

Baby Dolphin Dies After Humans Take Selfies With It

Beachgoers passed endangered creatures around to capture them with their phones

(Newser) - What may have seemed like a fun, harmless photo op turned into premature death for a baby dolphin in Argentina, per Gizmodo . Buenos Aires beachgoers were spotted last week along the shores of Santa Teresita plucking a couple of baby Franciscan dolphins—a species labeled as "vulnerable to extinction"...

Dolphin Lands In Boat, Breaks Woman's Ankles

Family managed to save the animal

(Newser) - A dolphin leaped onto a boat in Southern California, crashing into a woman and breaking both her ankles. Chrissie Frickman was boating with her husband and two children June 21 when a pod of dolphins swam alongside them. One of the animals jumped on the vessel, knocking Frickman over and...

World's Smallest Dolphin Could Vanish in 15 Years

Researchers call new study a 'loud wake-up call'

(Newser) - The world's smallest dolphin, found only off the coast of New Zealand, could disappear within 15 years unless efforts are taken to bring the critically endangered animal back from the brink of extinction. In what they deem a "loud wake-up call," researchers at German conservation group NABU...

Japan's Dolphin Slaughter Town Is Opening a Marine Park...

And it will serve whale and dolphin meat

(Newser) - Taiji, the dolphin-slaughtering Japanese town documented in The Cove, has no plans to end its annual dolphin hunt ... but it is opening a super-fun-sounding amusement park, where you can swim with the dolphins and then stop by a food stand and chow down on them. "This is part of...

Family Mad After Dolphin Bites Girl at SeaWorld

But spokeswoman says 8-year-old broke the rules

(Newser) - An Atlanta family is at odds with SeaWorld today after a playful dolphin leaped up and bit the family's 8-year-old girl on the hand, CNN reports. The Thomases say they posted a video of Jillian being bitten in Orlando, Fla., because they weren't satisfied with SeaWorld's response...

Louisiana's Rogue Dolphin Entertains ... and Bites

3 people who got too close have been bitten by Katrina survivor

(Newser) - Residents of an upscale New Orleans suburb have been warned to stay away from their friendly neighborhood dolphin. The young bottlenose dolphin, who arrived in a canal off the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain after Hurricane Katrina, is a big hit with boaters and swimmers, but has bitten at least...

Stranded Dolphin May Have Been 'Bullied'

Nearby group of dolphins may have scared him away from open ocean

(Newser) - The dolphin stranded in a shallow wetlands channel in California is still there, and one specialist says he may have been "bullied" into staying put. Rescue crews attempted to help the dolphin back into the open ocean Saturday, but a group of dolphins attacked it and forced it back...

Dolphin Stranded in Wetlands

California marine officials will hold off on rescue for now

(Newser) - Marine mammal experts in Southern California have decided to wait and see whether a dolphin that strayed into a shallow wetlands channel can find its way out. The 7-foot-long black-and-white common dolphin made its way into Orange County's Bolsa Chica wetlands and was spotted swimming in tight circles near...

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