If a human comes down with a rash, they might go to the doctor and come away with some ointment to put on it. Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins get skin conditions, too, but they come about their medication by queuing up nose-to-tail to rub themselves against corals. In the journal iScience, researchers show that these corals have medicinal properties, suggesting that the dolphins are using the marine invertebrates to medicate skin conditions.
Credit: Angela Ziltener
Research Paper: Evidence that Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins self-medicate with invertebrates in coral reefs
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(22)00541-7
News Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/952463
dolphinsskin ailmentscoral
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