The ecology and evolution of cultural and cooperative behavior among dolphins and humans

The evolution of cooperation is one of the most debated topics in science. A key question persists: how do cooperative behaviors evolve in the wild and why is it so rare among different species? Recently, our team showed with unprecedented detail that a cultural fishing practice involving wild dolphins and humans in Brazil benefits both speciesone of the last remaining cases of human-wildlife cooperation. Historical reports of similar interactions scattered in the literature raise the possibility that human wildlife cooperation could have evolved multiple times. Here, I will address this by exploring the last 3 places in the world where wild dolphins and net casting fishers still interact: Ashtamudi estuaryIndia, Ayeyarwady riverMyanmar, Tramandai inletBrazil.