Dolphin eating python anaconda

In August 2021, a research team was filming biodiversity near the Tijamuchi River, Bolivia, when they came across a very difficult to observe species, the Bolivian river dolphin. According to Steffen Reichle, a biologist at the Noel Kempff Mercado Museum of Natural History in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, who was part of the research team, seeing them poke their heads out of the river was very special. Scientists immediately took pictures. But it was not until they reviewed the photos that they realized the dolphins were swinging an anaconda while swimming.

The team describes the observations in the April 2022 issue of the journal Ecology. While captive and wild dolphins often play, the unexpected behavior of Bolivian dolphins seems very new to aquatic mammals. Some scientists are still unsure how to evaluate observations. Dr Reichle said Bolivian river dolphins usually swim below the surface with only their fins or tail exposed. But some of the six dolphins they saw kept their heads above the turbid water for unusually long periods of time.

At one point, two male dolphins appeared to be swimming rhythmically and gripping the anaconda with their mouths. Anacondas are semi-aquatic and can hold their breath for a while. But since the python was held for at least 7 minutes with most of its body submerged, it may have died. Due to the length of the interaction, the team suspects this is playful, not predatory behavior. The Beni anaconda is native to Bolivia and a top predator. Apart from a case of cannibalism, researchers have never recorded them being eaten by other animals. In this situation, scientists do not know the fate of the python.

Given the dolphin’s lively nature, “playing around seems to be the answer,” said Omar Entiauspe-Neto, a taxonomist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. A few juvenile dolphins congregate, revealing a different direction of interaction. Adult dolphins may be teaching their young about anacondas or showing them hunting techniques.

However, Sonja Wild, a behavioral ecologist at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Germany, suspects the interaction is not instructive. Maybe juvenile dolphins observe because they are curious. Because the anaconda is so strong, Dr. Wild wondered if the python would be injured or dead before the dolphins encountered it. He shared that this was the first time he heard a dolphin playing with a large python.

Researchers will need to learn more about river dolphins, in part because it’s difficult to figure out what’s going on when river water is so turbid.

An Khang (According to New York Times)