
Dolphins Play Bubble Rings
The attached video is of dolphins playing with silver colored rings which they
have the ability to make under water to play with. It isn't known how they learn
this, or if it's an inbred ability.
The dolphin does a quick flip of its head and a silver ring appears in front of
its pointed beak. The ring is a solid, donut shaped bubble about 2-ft across,
yet it doesn't rise to the surface of the water. The dolphin then pulls a small
silver donut from the larger one. Looking at the twisting ring for one last time
a bite is taken from it, causing the small ring to collapse into thousands of
tiny bubbles which head upward towards the water's surface. After a few moments
the dolphin creates another ring to play with. There also seems to be a separate
mechanism for producing small rings, which a dolphin can accomplish by a quick
flip of its head. An explanation of how dolphins make these silver rings is that
they are "air-core vortex rings". Invisible, spinning vortices in the water are
generated from the tip of a dolphin's dorsal fin when it is moving rapidly and
turning. When dolphins break the line, the ends are drawn together into a closed
ring. The higher velocity fluid around the core of the vortex is at a lower
pressure than the fluid circulating farther away. Air is injected into the rings
via bubbles released from the dolphin's blowhole. The energy of the water vortex
is enough to keep the bubbles from rising for a reasonably few seconds of play