Friday, April 07, 2017

Dolphin chefs tenderize octopuses

How do you eat a tough octopus - whose suckers latch onto you even after death - when you have no hands to hold it while your teeth tear it?  In one known case, a bottlenose dolphin choked to death trying to get too much octopus down its throat. So smart dolphins prepare their octopus. They smack it around, toss it, shake it, and generally break it down or tear it apart without letting it latch on.  Scientists Kate Sprogis and David Hocking documented several variations of this behavior.

The familiar bottlenose is one species known to "prepare" its octopus meals. (NOAA)

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