Moby, meanwhile, kept eating as Fuji found her way back to him. He didn't share the fish again and ultimately devoured what was left. Then they lined up and made a brief encounter before swimming out of sight.
"It's very common for dolphins," Kiszka said. "Between foraging sessions, they will socialize a lot and one way to socialize is through sex. In highly social species such as dolphins, conflict is common, but it is often solved through sex."
For dolphins, sex goes beyond reproduction. Like sharing food, it strengthens their social bonds.
During this study, Kiszka and his colleagues also saw rough-toothed dolphins sharing food with members of their social group in 2016.
It looked almost like a relay. One rough-toothed dolphin caught a fish—likely a Pacific crevalle jack—ripped off a bit of flesh and dropped the fish so another dolphin could take a bite. They kept this up for at least 15 minutes until they were out of sight.
These observations in the Bay of Potosi suggest sharing is a common tactic rough-toothed dolphins use to survive in a hostile environment where food is scarce and predators abound.
As Kiszka and the team study the social lives of these dolphins, they realize how dolphins behave similarly to people as they look for ways to adapt to those challenges.
Kiszka and his colleagues will continue to examine the behavior of rough-toothed dolphins off the coast of Guerrero.
The study was published in the journal Marine Mammal Science.
These are so beautiful