Near Adelaide a group of wild dolphins have been seen “tail-walking”, which is not typical dolphin behaviour. Instead it is taught to dolphins in captivity as a trick at shows. It turns out that one of them female wild dolphins spent a few weeks in a dolphinarium 20 years ago where she may have seen other dolphins performing the trick. She was there because she suffering from malnutrition, but she didn’t undergo any training while she was there.
Scientists suspect that this has now become a type of culture for this particular group of dolphins. They are continuing to monitor the group to see if there is anything that triggers the behaviour.
So culture is not something that is confined to human beings. Come to think of it these dolphins are more cultured than some of the people I know, myself included!
You can read more from the BBC.
