Dolphins with Alzheimer's Disease?

Just as people with dementia sometimes wander far from home, dolphins, some scientists believe, may get Alzheimer's disease and might get confused at sea.

In 2022, scientists and researchers from the University of Glasgow and other Scottish institutions were surprised to find that postmortem tests of 22 toothed whales, or odontocetes, detected three key brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease in humans and some other animals.

Now, another (new) study, published in Communications Biology, has doubled down on the discovery, revealing stranded dolphins showed brain damage eerily similar to that of people with Alzheimer's. Scientists also found that at least half of stranded bottlenose dolphins suffered severe to profound hearing loss, which is known to affect behavior, navigation, and social bonding.

In humans, hearing loss also serves as a risk factor for Alzheimer's.

Pardon?