Dolphins hold hands with their friends, and call them by name, according to a recent study published June 7 in the journal Current Biology, National Geographic reported.
Researchers at Shark Bay, Western Australia, studied 17 adult male bottlenose dolphins and concluded that the smart aquatic mammals were the only animals to give members of their group individual names — just like humans.
This confirms the findings of an earlier study.
“Retaining individual names is more important than sharing calls as it allows dolphins to negotiate a complex social network of cooperative relationships,” lead scientist Stephanie King said, according to Fox News.
The “names” were “individual vocal labels” identifying each animal.
The study also found that unrelated male dolphins tended to team up in groups of two to three in order to increases their likelihood of breeding with females.
As they team up they become something akin to “best friends,” a relationship that can last a lifetime. It’s during the course of that relationship that they develop signature vocal labels for one another.
“These individual vocal labels, or ‘names,’ allow the animals to develop complex social relationships,” King said.
And those “social relationships” extend to physical touching -- caressing one another with their pectoral fins, akin to hand-holding.
The dolphins also use synchronized movements through the water to further bond with one another.
“Synchrony has also been linked to oxytocin release in humans, which promotes trust and co-operation,” King said.
Folks on social media saw the study results as proof that they’re becoming more humanlike.
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