Hand-feeding wild bottlenose dolphins can influence the marine mammals’ social behaviour Shutterstock/Asher Davidson
Dolphins that are free-roaming but are fed by hand become less socially involved with their peers. As a result, their calves may grow up lacking vital social skills 鈥 which could explain, at least in part, why they are twice as likely to die before reaching adulthood.
鈥淒olphins are a very social species that rely on the social group to protect them from predators and for courtship [in breeding situations],鈥 says at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of alliance behaviour, and there鈥檚…
