The dolphin equivalent of Champaign and roses has been uncovered by researchers working in the Amazon. You might think the ideal gift to present to your dolphin paramour might be a fish but apparently the key to success in love is to carry stick, or some weeds…

While dolphins have previously been seen carrying a wide variety of objects, this is the first suggestion that it is related to something other than playful behaviour. Tony Martin and Vera da Silva are convinced that it is all about sex. Sometimes, it seems, it can pay to have something stuck in your teeth when on a date.

Of the groups of dolphins in the Amazon that were carrying objects such as weeds, most contained adult females. Those carrying the object were most often adult males and these males were 40 times more aggressive to other males than non-carrying dolphins, New Scientist reports (subscription required).

There doesn’t seem to be actual evidence that the sticks are directly linked to wooing though. Maybe it is just that girl-dolphins like aggressive boy-dolphins, and aggressive boy-dolphins like carrying sticks. Then again, I could be anthropomorphising them there.

Running with this story

Dolphins woo females with bunches of weeds – Daily Telegraph

Amazonian dolphins say it with weeds – AFP

In other dolphin news, Cambodia and the UN are aiming to save the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin from extinction. Fisherman will be encouraged to switch their business to dolphin watching, preserving the food supply for the Irrawaddy (AFP).