Thu Feb 20 00:40:00 UTC 2025: ## Amazon River Dolphins Caught on Camera Urinating in the Air in Rare Social Display
**Manaus, Brazil** – Newly analyzed footage from 2016 reveals a startling behavior among male Amazon river dolphins (botos): aerial urination. Researchers, publishing their findings in the February 2025 edition of *Behavioral Processes*, describe the phenomenon, documenting 36 instances of male botos leaping from the water and urinating upwards.
The study, led by Claryana Araújo-Wang, Mauricio Cantor, and John Y. Wang, suggests this unusual behavior is a form of social communication. The video shows one boto urinating while another approaches the stream of urine, sometimes even pursuing it with its rostrum (snout). Researchers believe the dolphins’ rostral bristles may detect chemicals in the urine, allowing for conspecific (same species) recognition and possibly status signaling.
Each urination event lasted an average of 11 seconds, too short for simple urination, lending credence to the social signaling theory. The researchers emphasize that this behavior was only observed in wild male botos. Araújo-Wang stated, “We were really shocked because it was something that we have never seen before or heard of from other researchers.”
While urination as a form of communication is known in other animals, it’s rare among aquatic mammals. This discovery adds a fascinating layer to our understanding of boto social dynamics and communication.
First Piper 