It has long been known that dolphins love to play. They chase each other, perform acrobatic stunts in the water and jump over its surface. And now Italian scientists have found out that dolphins can also smile.
Of course, these sea creatures do not have such lively facial expressions as, for example, dogs or monkeys. Dolphins simply open their mouths, or, as it is also called, their beaks. Scientists believe that this is how the animal communicates its desire to play, as well as the fact that it does not have bad intentions.
Researchers studied the behavior of 22 bottlenose dolphins living in captivity. To do this, 80 hours of video recording, including more than 800 dolphin games, were analyzed.
Elisabetta Palagi, from the University of Pisa:
“In the study, we found that dolphins open their mouths when playing. This can be seen as a signal. They serve it when they are in sight of another dolphin.”
The researchers also noted that dolphins rarely smile when playing with humans, and do not smile at all when playing alone.
Scientists hope that their research will help to better understand how animals communicate and form social bonds.
