Dolphins ‘walk with their tails’ in front of visitors

Monterey Bay Whale Watch, a company specializing in organizing trips to observe whales and marine animals, shared on social networks a video recording the unique tail-walking behavior of northern right-backed dolphins (Lissodelphis borealis) in waters near California in late January.

In the video, the tour guide says: “I can’t express how rare this behavior is.” The company, founded in 1992, also said that it has only recorded tail-walking behavior a few times. To do this, dolphins rush out of the water in an upright position, then maintain their position by flicking their tails quickly, allowing them to glide across the water for a short time.

Northern straightback dolphins are relatively common in the North Pacific. Their characteristic is that they have no dorsal fin, their body is mainly black with a white patch underneath. They are famous for their impressive acrobatics, being able to leap 6 meters out of the water.

“Northern straightback dolphins frequently jump repetitively for entertainment or to communicate within the group. We often encounter them in Monterey Bay, California, because there is a deep submarine canyon very close to shore. Therefore, in this area, whales and dolphins that live in deep water can come closer to shore,” explains marine biologist Nancy Black, owner of Monterey Bay Whale Watch, adding that they are rarely seen walking with their tails.

One of the notable cases of wild walking dolphins ever recorded is the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin population (Tursiops aduncus) lives at the mouth of the Port River (Australia). The origin of this behavior was revealed in research conducted by a team of experts from the British Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), published in the journal The Royal Society: Biology Letters.

Specifically, wild dolphins may have learned this behavior from the female dolphin Billie. The animal was born in 1987 in a natural environment. In December of the same year, it got stuck in a harbor and was taken to a nearby aquarium for care. Here, it lives with five other individuals who have been trained to walk with their tails to perform in public.

After returning to the wild 7 years, Billie was caught walking with her tail. The behavior also spread to other dolphins in the estuary population, but gradually decreased after Billie died in 2009. Scientists believe that without any training at the aquarium, Billie imitated the performing dolphins, which were then imitated by wild dolphins. In the case of California’s northern rightback dolphins, it’s unclear exactly how they learned this behavior.