A group of about 20 dolphins in the area have chosen to work with the humans.
While other dolphins hunt on their own, these guys seem to prefer the symbiotic relationship.
Scientists believe that the behavior must be passed from the mothers of this group down to their calves...
Similar to the way the fishermen teach their children to work with the dolphins.
The men and women of Laguna can recognize each individual dolphin by its markings.
They even have names for them!
The dolphins use special signals — like a language — to let the fishermen know when and where to cast their nets.
It would be near impossible for them to successfully fish in the area without the help of the dolphins...
The water is murky, and casting nets would be more like a guessing game than a precise practice.
Incredibly, their combined efforts have been going on for over 120 years.
Other collaborative human-animal relationships like this are very rare...
And they aren't usually this mutually beneficial; most often the benefits are weighed heavily to one side or the other.
But in this instance, both sides win.
The fishermen don't need to necessarily divide their spoils with the dolphins, because the fish swimming away from the nets head right into the dolphins' mouths.
But there's no real rhyme or reason to it...
The dolphins show up to fish whenever they feel like it, often leaving the men hanging with their nets.
See the amazing relationship for yourself:
(sources Australia for Dolphins, Oddity Central)It's amazing that something like this even happens in the first place, let alone that it's been going on for such a long time. These sure are some truly incredible animals.
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