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PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN J. SKERRY, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
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Humans can recognize each other by combining several traits: A person’s gait, the sound of their voice, sneeze or laugh, or their height, hair color, eyeglasses.
Dolphins can use multiple clues to zero in on friends, too, like their characteristic whistles—or even their taste. Studying captive bottlenose dolphins, scientists found that the animals paid more attention to their friends’ whistles and urine than those of strangers, suggesting they knew the animals that issued them.
“We were tapping into something that is part of the dolphins’ world,” marine biologist Jason Bruck tells Nat Geo.
Read the full story here. (Pictured above, two dolphins swimming off Honduras, photographed by Nat Geo Explorer Brian J. Skerry.)
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