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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Male Australian humpback dolphins have been observed presenting sponges to female dolphins [uwa.edu.au]:

Researchers from The University of Western Australia have captured a rare sexual display: evidence of male humpback dolphins presenting females with large marine sponges in an apparent effort to mate.

Scientists from UWA's School of Biological Sciences, the University of Zurich and Murdoch University conducted a decade of boat-based research on coastal dolphins across north-western Australia.

They documented adult male Australian humpback dolphins presenting large marine sponges to females, as well as performing visual and acoustic displays. It's the first time the behaviour has been documented in this species.

Their first observation was between a male and female dolphin and her calf. The male dolphin dived down to remove a large marine sponge fixed to the seafloor, balanced it on his beak and pushed it toward the female.

G'day mate.

Multi-modal sexual displays in Australian humpback dolphins [nature.com] (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-13898-9) (DX [doi.org])

Original Submission