Dolphins heal their skin with corals

Difficult to scratch with fins. Yet cetaceans suffer like us from skin problems. So how? Divers have observed strange behavior in bottlenose dolphins. One following the other, young and adults rub their heads, flanks and sometimes their whole bodies on certain reef corals. Scientists wanted to take a closer look, and they found that the corals chosen by dolphins for their scratching sessions secrete chemical compounds with healing properties. Results published on Thursday in the review iScience.