Editing Sponge (section)

=== By dolphins ===

A report in 1997 described use of sponges [[Tool use by non-human animals|as a tool]] by [[bottlenose dolphins]] in [[Shark Bay]] in Western Australia. A dolphin will attach a marine sponge to its [[rostrum (anatomy)|rostrum]], which is presumably then used to protect it when searching for food in the sandy [[sea floor|sea bottom]].<ref name="Smolker 1997">{{cite journal |last1=Smolker |first1=Rachel |last2=Richards |first2=Andrew |last3=Connor |first3=Richard |last4=Mann |first4=Janet |last5=Berggren |first5=Per |title=Sponge-carrying by Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins: Possible tool-use by a delphinid |journal=Ethology |year=1997 |volume=103 |pages=454–465 |doi=10.1111/j.1439-0310.1997.tb00160.x |issue=6 |hdl=2027.42/71936 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> The behavior, known as ''sponging'', has only been observed in this bay and is almost exclusively shown by females.<!-- This is the only known case of tool use in [[marine mammal]]s outside of [[sea otter]]s.--> A study in 2005 concluded that mothers teach the behavior to their daughters and that all the sponge users are closely related, suggesting that it is a fairly recent innovation.<ref name="Krutzen_2005">{{cite journal |last1=Krützen |first1=Michael |last2=Mann |first2=Janet |last3=Heithaus |first3=Michael R. |last4=Connor |first4=Richard C. |last5=Bejder |first5=Lars |last6=Sherwin |first6=William B. |title=Cultural transmission of tool use in bottlenose dolphins |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=102 |issue=25 |pages=8939–43 |date=June 2005 |pmid=15947077 |pmc=1157020 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0500232102 |bibcode=2005PNAS..102.8939K |doi-access=free }}</ref>