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Overnight Hope-a-Dope

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wahabicorridor1/31/2009 4:00:29 am PST

Good morning lizardia!
littleoldlady, sorry about your ‘puter problems - wish I could help.

Maybe this story will at least cheer you up.

Dolphins are just frikkin’ incredible

Calimari comin’ up!

The scientists observed a wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin repeatedly performing a complex set of manoeuvres in the Spencer Gulf off South Australia. First, on spotting her prey, the female flushed a cuttlefish out of the dense weeds where they generally hide, into an open area with clear visibility. Adopting a vertical pose, head down and tail up, she pinned it to the sandy sea floor with her snout.

With a flick of her powerful tail, the dolphin then killed the fish with a rapid downward thrust that broke the cuttlebone. Divers who were watching heard a “loud click” as the bone snapped, the research team reported in the online science and medical journal PLoS ONE.

Next, the dolphin expelled the toxic black ink that cuttlefish squirt at predators when attacked, lifting the dead fish high in the water and repeatedly whacking it with her snout to release thick clouds of ink. Finally, it was time to get rid of the large, hard bone. The dolphin dived back down to the sea floor, where she scraped the fish along the sand, stripping off the skin until the bone popped out. And hey presto: an appetising morsel akin to calamari was ready to be tucked into.

more at the link