Jan 23, 2024 17:00:00

Dolphins have a habit of attacking and trying to kill baby manatees when they don't eat.

Manatees are aquatic mammals that live in the rivers and estuaries of Africa, parts of the Americas, and Central American countries, and are popular with humans because of their cute appearance. A new paper published in the academic journal PLOS One reports that the most well-known type of dolphin, the bottlenose dolphin , has a habit of attacking baby manatees even though they won't eat them.

Agonistic interactions initiated by adult bottlenose dolphins on Antillean manatee calves in the Caribbean Sea | PLOS ONE
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295739

Dolphins are 'literally acting like jerks' by beating up baby manatees | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/animals/dolphins/dolphins-are-literally-acting-like-jerks-by-beating-up-baby-manatees

An international research team has identified 10 instances of bottlenose dolphins engaging in aggressive interactions with babies and young American manatees near Belize in northeastern Central America. I reported. The attacks were witnessed between 1999 and 2020, with the majority occurring between 2015 and 2020.

Researchers have observed bottlenose dolphins attempting to separate baby manatees from their mothers, harassing them, ramming them, and even biting them. In both cases, it seems that the dolphins initiated the attack, and it is believed that this was intentional. In one case, during a health check on a stranded manatee, dolphin bite scars were found on the body of an orphaned baby.

'I believe with confidence that the dolphins were trying to kill the baby manatee,' said study co-author Jeremy Kishka , an associate professor of biology at Florida International University . I am.

Although it is not fully understood why bottlenose dolphins attack manatees, cases of bottlenose dolphins attacking other

porpoises have been confirmed for some time. “We have seen cases of bottlenose dolphins being disgusting and violent towards other species around the world,” Kiszka said.

Kishka believes bottlenose dolphins are aggressive toward manatees and other marine life because they perceive them as competitors for food, space, and resources. In the future, if the habitat ranges of more species overlap due to climate change, hostile behavior may increase.

' Dolphins do not eat manatees ; It is unclear why dolphins behave this way towards other species, perhaps they are curious when they encounter a manatee, and dolphins are often aggressive towards each other, so 'They may exhibit similar behavior toward other species as well.'