Some dolphins are party animals

LONDON (Reuters) - Some people are born to be the life and soul of the party -- and so it seems are some dolphins.


It is well established that dolphins, which are highly intelligent animals, form complex social groups or pods.


But new research summarised in New Scientist magazine on Wednesday said that some individual dolphins played the part of liaison between different pods, keeping them in close touch with each other.


Ecologist David Lusseau of the University of Aberdeen and physicist Mark Newman of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, found the socialite role while studying dolphins in New Zealand.


When two of the animals disappeared for a while pods that had previously socialised ceased doing so. When they reappeared, the groups got back together again.


The scientists said their findings could have implications for zoologists taking animals from the wild. Removing a key individual could damage an entire group, they concluded.