Incredible photographs show us just how smart dolphins really are

Life


Incredible photographs show us just how smart dolphins really are

By Stylist Team

10 years ago

An article exploring dolphin intelligence has presented us with these absolutely breathtaking views of dolphins taken by photographer Brian Skerry. 

The images in the May issue of National Geographic aim to demonstrate how incredibly smart dolphins really are through a series of beautiful images of them communicating, socialising and using advanced group feeding techniques.

The amazing shots were taken for a piece titled, Thinking Like A Dolphin, Understanding One of The Smartest Creatures on Earth and are heart-warming indeed.

But don't take our word for it, dive in and see for yourselves:


Dolphins communicate with their bodies as well as with sounds. A dusky dolphin catapulting through the air off the coast of Patagonia may be sending a signal to other dolphins: The food here is good. Come and get it.


Spinner dolphins return from foraging to a bay off Oahu, Hawaii. Garrulous and gregarious, spinners gather in groups that can number in the thousands.


Intensely social, dolphins work together on ingenious feeding strategies. Dusky dolphins off Patagonia herd anchovies into neat spheres and then take turns gulping. Two birds, a Magellanic penguin and a shearwater, join the frenzy.


Relative to body size, the brains of bottlenose dolphins, like these at the Roatán Institute for Marine Sciences in Honduras, are among the largest in the animal kingdom. Scientists are attempting to decode dolphins’ complex vocalisations.


Spotted dolphins swim off the northern Bahamas, where the waters are exceptionally clear. Three generations of these social animals—300 individuals over 30 years—have been the subject of the longest-running underwater dolphin study in the world, led by Denise Herzing.


The May issue of National Geographic, out now, features more incredible photos 

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