They're doing it on porpoise

Killer whales set traps for seagulls. In particular, one seems to have learned how to set traps, and others learned from the example.

Now researchers at Marineland in Ontario, Canada have observed a four-year-old killer whale setting a trap for seagulls by spitting fish onto the water's surface as bait. The whale would sink below the water and wait for an unsuspecting gull to come down for a meal. Once the bird took the bait, the whale would lunge at it with open jaws. The whale, pleased with the results, set up the trap over and over again.

It was once believed that most animal behavior, from the food they ate to the places they slept, was based on instinct," Noonan said. "This new discovery supports the growing view that animals like killer whales are very prone to learning by imitation, and that they are 'cultural' in nature."

I predict a number of people will have problems with this finding. I predict it will be the same people who are uncomfortable with evolution – both tend to blur the distinction between us and animals. Evolution because of the notion of common ancestry, and this because it implies our minds differ from those of other animals in degree, not necessarily in kind.