Just a Little Help From a Friend! Dolphins Have Been Helping Fishermen Catch Fish for 150 Years

It’s a rare and unbelievable natural occurrence of what’s called “mutualism”

Transcript

00:00Dolphins are pretty amazing creatures.

00:05In fact, they're likely the second most intelligent ones on the planet next to humans.

00:10And that might be why our two species work so well together.

00:12In fact, on the southern coast of Brazil, fishermen and dolphins have been working together

00:16to catch fish for nearly one and a half centuries.

00:19But how?

00:20Well, the dolphins swim into the shallows where fishermen stand ready.

00:22Then they chase schools of mullet towards the fishermen, who then cast their nets, catching

00:26many more than they likely would have otherwise simply by waiting.

00:29It's a wild natural synergy that has developed over time, with the dolphins even signaling

00:33for the fishermen to cast their nets.

00:35It's what researchers call mutualism, where two species help one another out.

00:38So what do dolphins get out of it?

00:40Well, when the fishermen cast their nets, the dolphins often dive deeper and increase

00:44their vocal clicks, with researchers saying they believe the fishermen's nets might disrupt

00:48the schools of fish.

00:49And underwater footage actually reveals the dolphins are able to snag fish from the nets

00:53themselves, with the mutualism both increasing the fishermen's catch while also increasing

00:57the dolphins' fish intake, bettering their chance for survival.