Practice Makes Perfect:
Tool-Foraging Dolphins Improve with Age

A group of bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia, use a clever trick to access prey on the sea floor – they cover their beaks with marine sponges to protect themselves from sharp rocks as they search for food. 30 years after the behaviour was first reported, scientists have now found that individuals improve with practice, peaking just when it matters most.
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What Makes Us Human Part IV
Culture and Faith

What makes us human? Many of the characteristics commonly listed as ‘uniquely human’, are in fact, upon closer inspection, NOT. We are not alone in our use of tools, language or a notion of self. We are not unique in our bipedal stance, our opposable thumb or our intelligence. Our societies seem simple and crudely constructed when compared to those of a bee or a termite. Perhaps there is one thing left, however, that is truly human – art. Surely culture, art and religion are something only humans have constructed? And if that is the case, what is it about humans that led us and only us, to create such a rich array of art and ritual, which appears, in evolutionary terms, to be superfluous to our survival?

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