more on mama dolphins

As usual, Temple knew exactly what to think about the mama dolphin and her sponge-fishing' technique.

She said the dolphin was protecting her nose from stingrays that hide flat on the bottom of the ocean, hidden in the sand.

Temple has seen footage of a dolphin that died after being stabbed by a stingray.

Temple figured this out instantly, as soon as she read the new research on dolphins with sponges on their noses. The image of a hidden stingray ambushing a dolphin popped into her mind's eye:

"I'm visualizing that now," she said. "Having that sponge to protect its nose is really important. A stingray wouldn’t go through the sponge."

Temple was also struck by the fact that all of the dolphins using the sponges were genetically related.

"One real clever individual started it," she said.