Dolphin researchers have spotted the intelligent mammals teaching each other to hunt for food in a way that has never been seen before along Australia’s east coast.
A team from the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia captured video of bottlenose dolphins using large shells like a bucket to scoop up fish and eat them.
Moreover, researchers watched as one dolphin’s offspring picked up a shell and copied their mother’s clever new hunting hack – known as shelling.
The tool-using dolphins were seen catching fish along Australia’s east coast in both July and October 2025, showing researchers that this was a consistent behavior and not a fluke.
The only other time scientists have ever recorded dolphins picking up an empty shell to scoop food with was a group living in Shark Bay on Australia’s west coast, nearly 20 years ago and 3,700 miles away.
Although the team noted that there had been stories and reported sightings of dolphins using tools to fish with in the 1990s, scientists have never captured images or video of the animals doing this outside of that group of 19 bottlenoses in Shark Bay.
Dr Alexis Levengood, a marine mammal expert who led the new study, said in a statement: ‘Our observations in Queensland show that dolphins on opposite sides of Australia have learned to use tools in the exact same way, independent of one another.’
The scientists added that the images of the young dolphin, nicknamed Bentley, copying its mother, Maserati, were also groundbreaking, as it proved dolphins not only copy their peers in the ocean, but also take after their parents as well.
Bottlenose dolphins along Australia’s east coast were spotted using shells as tools to fish with for the first time in history in 2025
The behavior, known as shelling, involves the dolphins taking large empty shells and scooping up fish. They then empty the water, leaving the fish to flop out an be eaten
The researchers made two direct observations in 2025 during boat surveys along Australia’s eastern shores.
On July 6, an adult female nicknamed Stevie Nicks was seen lifting a large empty bailer shell out of the water several times while maneuvering it with her mouth, although rain made it hard for the team to see if Stevie Nicks scooped up a fish on that attempt.
‘We were on a research boat off Hervey Bay when we spotted a dolphin raising something large out of the water. I started screaming because I know what shelling looks like,’ Levengood said in a university release.
However, on October 1, 2025, the mother dolphin named Maserati brought a shell to the surface while scientists were recording.
The dolphin was spotted draining at least one fish from the shell, dropping the bucket and chasing after the fish.
Minutes later, her calf Bentley picked up the same shell, held it the same way and slapped it on the surface – revealing a fish inside waiting to be eaten.
‘Our footage provides the first potential evidence of maternal social transmission – a process by which offspring learn behavior by observing the actions of its mother. It challenges the belief that dolphins learn this tool use from their peers,’ the study author explained.
Although bottlenose dolphins are a common sight along the US East and West Coasts, as they regularly migrate between warm water locations, scientists have not seen any of these mammals learning to shell yet.
Dolphins in the US have never been seen shelling (Pictured) like the bottlenose population in Australia
Dolphins were thought to learn most of their behaviors from peers. The new study finds they also learn from their parents (Stock Image)
Levengood noted that tour boats in Australia may have photographed more instances of shelling in 2013 and 2019, but scientists did not learn about those sightings until this study, published in the journal Marine Mammal Science.
The scientists added that this new skill has not been learned by every dolphin in the area yet, however, it could be easy enough for all of these mammals to pick it up once they see enough of their peers doing it.
‘We know they don’t all do it. It takes some skill, it takes some knowledge of where to find these empty shells, how to maneuver those shells, and how to be successful in getting the fish out,’ Levengood told ScienceAlert.
‘All it takes is one dolphin doing something clever that is easily learnable for it to spread.’
