Underwater cameras hitched to wild dolphins have allowed scientists in New Zealand to peer into the hidden lives of the mammals for the first time.
A trial of the robust small cameras – attached to the dolphins by suction cups – has yielded nearly nine hours of video capturing rarely seen facets of private dolphin life.
They included moments of affection between mothers and calves, dolphins playing in kelp beds and intimate social behaviour such as flipper-rubbing between adults.
“For the first time these cameras have given us the opportunity to see what dolphins do on their own terms," Dr Gabriel Machovsky-Capuska, a researcher at the University of Sydney, said.
Scientists described the details of the novel footage in a paper, published this week in