This is a bubble ring, a genuine, dolphin-made, dolphin toy. According to article, "The dolphins dive down deep, and then they blow a beautiful round air ring through the blowhole. It looks like a hoolahoop of air. They would use it to swim through, or try to keep the ring down, or they would just look at it for fun."

This is the first I've read of an animal making a toy for itself. There are many intelligent animals that use tools. And many more that play. But apparently dolphins make bubble rings for only one reason: so dolphins can play with them.

According to this source, dolphins "... blow underwater bubble rings by injecting air into water vortices, about the thickness of a straw and 1 to 2 feet in diameter. The rings don't rise to the surface! The babies play with these underwater toys by moving them around with their rostrum, or biting them. They even bounce the rings off the wall, and elongate them with a flick of their dorsal fins into 15 foot corkscrews."

Here's another quote, from pre-eminent dolphin scientist Don White: "The young dolphin gives a quick flip of her head, and an undulating silver ring appears--as if by magic--in front of her. The ring is a solid, toroidal bubble two feet across--and yet it does not rise to the surface! It stands erect in the water like the rim of a magic mirror, or the doorway to an unseen dimension. For long seconds the dolphin regards its creation, from varying aspects and angles, with its vision and sonar. Seemingly making a judgment, the dolphin then quickly pulls a small silver doughnut from the larger structure, which collapses into small bubbles. She then 'pushes' the doughnut, which stays just inches ahead of her rostrum, perhaps 20 feet over a period of up to 10 seconds. Then, stopping again, she regards the twisting ring for a last time and bites it--causing it to collapse into a thousand tiny bubbles which head--as they should--for the water's surface. After a few moments of reflection, she creates another."

Labels: toys