This week, football fans across England celebrated after the Three Lions triumphed over Wales, taking them through to the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup.
But Harry Kane‘s squad may have competition for their ball skills from an unlikely competitor – rays.
Experts at London Aquarium have shared adorable footage of rays playing their own version of underwater football.
Aside from making for fun viewing, the football – which is filled with food – encourages mental stimulation in the rays, according to the team.
Experts at London Aquarium have shared adorable footage of rays playing their own version of underwater football
The underwater football game is designed to stimulate natural behaviours in rays.
In the footage, six rays can be seen participating in the game, which features a hollow football filled with their favourite fish.
Rays have the special ability to find prey based on the electric fields creatures give off.
However, for the football game, the rays instead had to rely on their sense of smell to find their food.
By using simple problem solving and teamwork, the rays worked out they needed to dive towards the feedable football, then bat it back and forth for more food to fall out and eat.
‘Our squad of rays have loved playing their own version of the beautiful game since we introduced the new enrichment plan for the start of the World Cup,’ said Rowena Kennedy, Displays Supervisor at SEA LIFE London Aquarium.
‘Rays are intelligent creatures so it’s important that we encourage natural feeding behaviours and problem solving in their care plan.
In the footage, six rays can be seen participating in the game, which featured a hollow football filled with their favourite fish
Aside from making for fun viewing, the football – which is filled with food – encourages mental stimulation in the rays, according to the team
‘Our feeder footballs are a fun and stimulating way for the rays to eat as it encourages foraging behaviour and utilises their keen sense of smell as they would in the wild.’
Skates and rays are closely related to sharks, but are flatter in shape, which makes them well suited for life on the sea-floor.
Their mouth, nostrils and gills are located on the underside of their body, while their eyes are on top.
Worldwide, there are over 600 species of skate and ray, with the largest, the Manta Ray, measuring up to 29.5ft (nine metres) in length.
Unfortunately, research has revealed that large, flat-bodied coastal species are the most vulnerable to extinction.
‘In the UK, larger skates (such as the White Skate and Flapper Skate) have become some of the most threatened species in British waters,’ Shark Trust explained.