Other than humans, many other animals have been observed to use tools in the wild. Chimpanzees use straws to dig out termites, and have been observed to break hard-to-crack nuts using a stone. Eagles have been known to throw turtles from great heights to crack open their shells. These animals even teach their young how to use the tools, thus hinting at a generation to generation transfer of knowledge hitherto believed to be employed only by humans. Now scientists in Australia have observed a community of dolphins to use sponges to protect their sensitive snout, and suspect that they teach the technique to their young too:):).

Poor Spongebob :D (Courtesy: NewScientist)Lacking hands, dolphins are limited in what they can do with a tool, but some bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia, have devised a way to break marine sponges off the seafloor and wear them over their snouts when foraging. Most sponges are flat, but tool-using dolphins select conical ones that will not fall off their snouts. The majority of dolphin spongers are females.
A comparison of their nuclear DNA showed that the spongers were closely related, suggesting that spongers are descendants of a recent Sponging Eve. From the usage pattern among the different dolphins, the researchers conclude that the behaviour is culturally transmitted, presumably by mothers teaching the skills to their sons and daughters, although they have not actually observed this feat in action.
As we look more into the animal world, we find intelligent creatures employing creative ideas to make their lives a little better than usual. Our ancestors started the same way, hundreds of thousands of years ago. Who is to say the dolphins wont inherit the Earth, millions of years hence?