A bottlenose dolphin in Shark Bay, Australia sports a sea sponge on its nose – not as a fashion statement, but to help it forage for food. A new study has found that using a sponge helps to protect a dolphin’s beak from sharp rocks while it shovels through rubble at the bottom of sandy channels, stirring up barred sandperch for a meal.
Photograph: Meredith MacQueeney/AP
