• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Scientists discover first-ever dolphin with ‘thumbs’

Home> News> Animals

Published 17:44 12 Dec 2023 GMT

Scientists discover first-ever dolphin with ‘thumbs’

During the summer, scientists discovered the first-ever dolphin with 'thumbs' in the Gulf of Corinth off the coast of Greece.

Callum Jones

Callum Jones

Scientists have discovered the first ever-dolphin with 'thumbs' - something that has left them scratching their heads.

In the past few weeks alone, scientists have discovered what's inside Earth's core and found $540 billion worth of 'white gold' sitting beneath giant lake.

But this latest discovery is perhaps one of the most surprising out of the lot, and it all comes from a dolphin spotted in the Gulf of Corinth off the coast of Greece.

New photographs released show the strange dolphin having hook-shaped 'thumbs' carved out of its flippers.

Advert

The dolphin in question has been spotted on two separate occasions by researchers with the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute this summer during boat surveys off the coast of Greece.

But despite being very different from its dolphin friends, the animal managed to keep pace with the rest of its pod.

Alexandros Frantzis, the scientific coordinator and president of the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, told LiveScience that it was even seen 'swimming, leaping, bow-riding, playing' with the other dolphins in the Gulf of Corinth.

The dolphin photographed this summer.
Alexandros Frantzis/Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute

Advert

Frantzis, who took the pictures, added: "It was the very first time we saw this surprising flipper morphology in 30 years of surveys in the open sea and also in studies while monitoring all the stranded dolphins along the coasts of Greece for 30 years."

The Gulf of Corinth is certainly known for being the home of plenty mixed-species - though this latest discovery has surprised scientists just a bit.

The dolphin with the world's first ever 'thumb' was a striped dolphin - with around 1,300 of these living in the Gulf.

However, the unusual flipper from the recently discovered dolphin looks very different - and Francis suggests that it may be because 'the expression of some rare and 'irregular' genes' due to inbreeding.

Advert

The 'thumbs' are a first of the kind.
Alexandros Frantzis/Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute

Lisa Noelle Cooper, an associate professor of mammalian anatomy and neurobiology at the Northeast Ohio Medical University, also agreed that the 'thumbs' is likely due to genes.

She also told LiveScience: "I've never seen a flipper of a cetacean that had this shape.

"Given that the defect is in both the left and right flippers, it is probably the result of an altered genetic program that sculpts the flipper during development as a calf."

Advert

Adding: "The hook-shaped 'thumb' may have some bone inside of it, but it certainly isn't mobile.

"It is lovely to see that this animal is thriving."

Luckily for humans, these thumbs aren't opposable - as, according to a 2017 study, dolphins are virtually on par with humans for 'planetary dominance'.

Because then we'd be royally f**ked.

Featured Image Credit: Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images / Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute/Alexandros Frantzis

Topics: Science, Animals

Callum Jones
Callum Jones

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

6 hours ago
7 hours ago
  • 6 hours ago

    Chipotle customer finds receipt from 10 years ago and the comparison is making people want to cry

    Chipotle customers are understandably upset

    News
  • 6 hours ago

    100-year-old identical twins reveal secret to long life after celebrating milestone

    Bernice Frank and Gloria Lipman shared their wisdom for reaching 100-years-old

    News
  • 7 hours ago

    Forensic psychiatrist gives chilling theory behind Bryan Kohberger’s motive after he confessed to Idaho murders

    Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to murder earlier this week

    News
  • 7 hours ago

    Body found in search for man who vanished on vacation as police release chilling details

    Brian Tarrence was with his wife in Turks and Caicos before being reported missing days later

    News
  • Scientists discover three new 'ancient shark' species in the southern US
  • Scientists discover 1,500,000-year-old footprints that proves 'exciting' theory in world-first
  • Trainer admitted to 'sexually relieving' dolphin who 'fell in love' with her during NASA-funded experiment
  • Scientists discover why vaping is 'more dangerous than smoking' in first-of its-kind study