The Mangrove Photography Awards, organized by the Mangrove Action Project (MAP), helps to "raise awareness of the people and wildlife that rely on mangrove forests, the threats they face, and why urgent action is needed to protect them". This wildlife category winner captures a rare and unique fishing behaviour used only by bottlenose dolphins living in the shallows of the mangrove-lined bays of Florida Bay and a few other locations in the Caribbean. Mud-ring feeding involves a dolphin from the pod encircling a school of fish, kicking up sediments with its tail. The fish become 'trapped' in this circle of mud, causing them to jump out to 'safety' into the jaws of the dolphins. Indian mangrove forests have been cleared for fishing ponds in this image. Without considerable efforts to restore, manage and conserve these ecosystems, mangrove forest cover will continue to decline. The Mangroves Working Group, led by Friends of Ocean Action in collaboration with 1t.org, aims to raise...
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