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Stranger Than Fiction

Dolphins 'smile' at each other while playing together

Published:Thursday | October 10, 2024 | 5:56 AMBANG Bizarre

The animals are renowned for their playful nature and scientists in Italy have now realised how they use the 'open mouth' facial expression that is similar to a grin to communicate during social interaction.

Bottlenose dolphins typically adopt the expression when they are in their playmate's eyeline with the others responding with a 'smile' back a third of the time.

Dr Elisabetta Palagi, senior author of the research at the University of Pisa, said: "We've uncovered the presence of a distinct facial display, the open mouth, in bottlenose dolphins, and we showed that dolphins are able to mirror others' facial expressions.

"Open-mouth signals and rapid mimicry appear repeatedly across the mammal family tree, which suggests that visual communication has played a crucial role in shaping complex social interactions, not only in dolphins but in many species over time."

 

 

 

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