Dolphins are highly intelligent mammals, and crab fishers are very familiar with how smart dolphins can be. For two decades, they have noticed that bottlenose dolphins have been stealing the fish they use as bait to catch crabs. And, for the first time ever, researchers have been able to film the behavior.
Although it's an astonishing feat for the dolphins to figure out how to get around the crab baits, some conservation biologists have expressed concern about the safety and health of the dolphins. Despite the dolphins' intelligence, they can still be ensnared in the traps, just like an incident in Clearwater, Florida, in which a baby dolphin got caught in the ropes of a crab trap.
Still, for over two years, the researchers filmed the dolphins as they snatched the fish from the crab traps. No matter what the fishers did to try and dissuade the dolphins from stealing the bait, they were still able to get around it. They tried putting the fish on hooks, changing the location of the fish in the crab pot, and even sealing the bait inside a plastic container with a lid.
The only way they were able to succeed in stopping the dolphins from stealing their bait was by making sure that the bait was tightly fastened in a mesh bait pouch. It may be worthwhile to study why the dolphins engage in this behavior, but researchers suspect that the dolphins wanted to have a little bit of fun while getting a reward for their efforts.
(Video credit: Dolphin Discovery Centre TV/Youtube)