Facts about Dolphins

• Dolphins are mammals; this means that they

nurse their babies with milk from the mothers.
• Dolphins can swim up to 260 m. below the
surface of the ocean.
• Dolphins can stay up to 15 minutes under
water, but they cannot breath under the water.
• Dolphins use a technique called echolocation
to find food and navigate.
• Dolphins live in groups formed by 10 to 12
individuals.
• There are 36 different kinds of ocean dolphins
and 5 species of river dolphins.
• The largest dolphin is the “killer whale” (also
known as Orca).
• The most known dolphin is the “ bottlenose
dolphin”.
• Dolphins are warm-blooded.
• Dolphins communicate through sounds and
whistles.
 What do Dolphins Eat ?

The food that dolphins eat is different for each

species.
While some dolphins eat fishes like herring, cod or
mackerel, some others eat squids.
Even more, large dolphins like the killer whales,
eat some other marine mammals like seals or sea
lions and sometime even turtles.
Usually, the amount of fish that they eat depends
on the kind of fish that they hunt. While mackerel
or herring have a lot of fat, squid have not much
fat, therefore, to get the energy required for their
activities, dolphins have to eat more squid than
mackerel.
On average, a dolphin with a weigh of 200 Kg. to
250 Kg will eat between 10 Kg to 25 Kg of fish
every day.
Usually to hunt fish, some species of dolphins use
a method called herding which is performed by a
pod of dolphins where some of them surround a
school of fish to compress them as much as
possible, while some others take turns to dive
through the compacted school of fish and feed.
Other usual method is corralling where fish is
chased to shallow waters where they cannot
escape.
Some species catch larger fish by hitting them with
their tails to stun them.

Therefore the question about what do dolphins eat,

has to be answered for every species in particular.
In this video you can watch a pod of dolphins
working together to feed themselves and using
the technique called herding to catch the fish as
they surround the school of fish and then some of
them take turns to eat.

In the video you can even watch fish jumping out

of the water trying to scape and then they are
catched as they jump.
 How do Dolphins Communicate?

Dolphins communicate through sounds and

whistles.

There are several kinds of whistles which are used

by dolphins.

Some species of dolphins can send the identity

information through a signature whistles.

Whistles also coordinate the group hunting which

make feeding much easier for dolphins than doing
it alone.

Burst pulsed sounds are also made by dolphins

with the purpose of communication, although there
is not enough knowledge about dolphin
communication.

Dolphin Echolocation

Echolocation is a technique used by some animals

to detect other animals, food and obstacles.

As implied by its name, this technique uses the

echo, produced by a sound emitted by the animals
with this capability, to locate such objects.
Dolphins and some whales, besides some other
animals, like bats, have this ability.
The sound travels in the form of waves and when it
is bounced back by solid objects either in water or
air, it is then detected by the dolphin. This
bouncing is called “echo” and it is the same as the
voice echo we hear in caves, but at a much precise
level.
Animals with echolocation ability, are capable to
detect this echo when is deflected back by a solid
object.
In the case of dolphins, they emit a a beam of
clicking sounds forward in the direction of their
head and receive the echo from this sounds in the
lower jaw.
This sophisticated system can calculate the
distance where an object is located because of the
time taken by the echo to return to the dolphin. As
sounds can travel quite a distance in the water,
dolphins are capable to detect dangers or food
which is even out of sight.

This technique is used by humans in radars or

sonars where some kind of wave is emitted and
the bounced back wave is detected and processed.

Bottlenose Dolphin Facts

The most popular dolphin is the Bottlenose Dolphin
as it is the one we have seen in tv series, movies,
and aquatic shows .

1. Bottlenose Dolphins can swim up to 260 m.

below the surface of the ocean.
However they need quick access to air in the
surface, therefore bottlenose dolphins usually are
shallow divers and close to the surface.

2. Bottlenose Dolphins can stay up to 15 minutes

under water.
However bottlenose dolphins usually stay only a
few minutes diving.
3. Bottlenose Dolphins are social beings.

Bottlenose dolphins cooperate among each to get

food. To do this, they work in teams to optimize
the effort of hunting.
They also cooperate for calf rising, when usually
one dolphin helps the mother to take care of the
calves, very much like a midwife.

4. The bottlenose dolphin can grow up to 2.8

meters.
While there are some other smaller species, there
are some species much bigger like the killer whale.

5. Bottlenose Dolphins are warm-blooded.

Their internal temperature is around 36 degrees.
To keep this temperature they are surrounded by a
thick layer of fat called “blubber” just below the
skin. This fat, allow dolphins to resist cold
temperatures and regulate their body temperature.

6. The average botllenose dolphin brain weighs

1500-1600 grams.
If this is compared with the average human brain
which weighs between 1200-1300 grs. bottlenose
dolphin brain is larger, however this is not a
conclusive evidence of dolphin intelligence as many
other factors might be the cause of intelligence
according to scientists, however this brain capacity
is a clear indication that dolphins have at least the
potential of higher intelligence.

7. Bottlenose Dolphins are great communicators.

They can make a unique signature whistle that
may help individual dolphins recognize each other
or perform any other kind of communication still
unknown. Dolphins even make noises so loud that
can stunt fish.

8. Bottlenose dolphins can swim 5 to 12 kilometers

per hour.
Although they can reach up to 32 km/h.