Bottlenose Dolphin Facts
Here
are some interesting bottlenose
dolphin facts.
On this page is some information about dolphin's history with humans.
Dolphin Fresco, Knossos, Crete, Greece
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They represented the power of ocean and in legends, dolphins guided Poseidon - the God of the Oceans.
In ancient Rome and Greece for example, dolphins were pictured on coins and in the artwork, and it was a serious crime to kill a dolphin.
Aboriginal People of Australia and Maori people of New Zealand believed that dolphins were Gods' messengers that rescued people and guided boats. Indigenous people of California believed that dolphins were people that had drowned. They treated them as humans because they believed God had turned them into dolphins to save their lives.
Later, during the whaling days, dolphins were not targeted nearly as much as the large baleen whales.
This, however, was mainly due to the fact that the large whales offered much larger amounts of products. Bottlenose and other dolphins were, and still are, killed in some countries for meat and other products.
They are some of the bravest and most social dolphins.
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In the wild, there seems to be different types of them - the ones that live close to the coasts and the ones that inhabit deep oceans. The deep ocean bottlenose dolphins are larger in size.
Like other dolphins, they have adaptations for a life in water, such as streamlined bodies, fins, flippers, flukes, blubber and blowholes.
Like other dolphins, they also have a good sense of hearing, taste and touch, while the sense of smell and eyesight are not very well developed.
And like other dolphins, they use echolocation to locate predators and prey. They are smart animals, able to learn tricks and solve simple problems.
They live in pods with a complex social structure, and they have a complex arrangement of different sounds that they use for communication.
They are very friendly and can build long bonds with humans.
They are also very playful animals and love to breach, spyhop, lobtail and display other surface behaviour.
* Bottlenose Dolphins are some of the largest dolphins.
* But their size vary a fair bit depending on where they live.
* The largest bottlenose dolphins are about twice the length of full-grown humans, and weigh about seven times as much as an average adult human.
* Larger dolphins live in cooler waters, while smaller individuals tend to live in warmer waters and coastal areas.
* Advantages of larger bodies include having it easier to keep warm, and being able to store more oxygen and thus dive deeper.
* Adaptations to a life in water include blubber, blowholes and streamlined bodies.
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* Blubber is a layer of fat under the skin, which helps whales and dolphins to keep warm, since they don't have fur or hair as do most land mammals.
* Bottlenose dolphins have good sense of hearing, taste and touch. Its eyesight is good compared to many other dolphins, but not as good as the eyesight of most land animals'. Its taste of smell is not very good.
* Like other whales and dolphins, bottle noses spyhop, breach, lobtail, flipper, and put on other surfacing displays.
* Surfacing is thought to be done for communication, to have a look across the water, and sometimes to herd fish.
* Other forms of communication bottle noses have is making different sounds, and rubbing and touching each other.
* Bottlenose Dolphins are some of the largest dolphins.
* But their size vary a fair bit depending on where they live.
* The largest bottlenose dolphins are about twice the length of full-grown humans, and weigh about seven times as much as an average adult human.
* Larger dolphins live in cooler waters, while smaller individuals tend to live in warmer waters and coastal areas.
* Advantages of larger bodies include having it easier to keep warm, and being able to store more oxygen and thus dive deeper.
* Adaptations to a life in water include blubber, blowholes and streamlined bodies.
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* Blubber is a layer of fat under the skin, which helps whales and dolphins to keep warm, since they don't have fur or hair as do most land mammals.
* Bottlenose dolphins have good sense of hearing, taste and touch. Its eyesight is good compared to many other dolphins, but not as good as the eyesight of most land animals'. Its taste of smell is not very good.
* Like other whales and dolphins, bottle noses spyhop, breach, lobtail, flipper, and put on other surfacing displays.
* Surfacing is thought to be done for communication, to have a look across the water, and sometimes to herd fish.
* Other forms of communication bottle noses have is making different sounds, and rubbing and touching each other.
* Dolphins have to remember to surface to breathe, so they cannot fall into deep sleep. They rest with half a brain awake and one eye open.
* The age of a dolphin can be determined from its teeth. Their teeth have yearly rings just like trees.
* The dolphins that performed in "Flipper" were bottlenose dolphins.
* The oldest fossil of bottlenose dolphin is five million years old.
* Dolphins make noises in different ways from humans. They don't have vocal cords, so they make noises by adjusting air sacs in their heads.
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* Bottlenose dolphin's face looks to us as if it smiles. This is just the shape of its face. These dolphins have rigid faces and they don't have facial expressions for whether they feel happy, sad, angry or scared.
* It takes bottlenose dolphins 1/5 of a second to empty their lungs and refill them again.
* They shed their skin regularly. When out of water, their skin is very sensitive to the sun. It burns easily and needs to be moist.
* Some bottlenose dolphins have spots and stripes - something that used to make scientists to believe that there were many species of them.
* Bottlenose dolphins sometimes carry sponges on their snouts. It is not known whether they are protecting their faces, or whether it is play.
* Pregnant bottlenose dolphins sometimes rest on the ocean floor.
* Bottlenose dolphins locate their prey and enemies by echolocating.
Bottle nose dolphins have a very wide habitat because they are very adaptable animals.
Bottlenose Dolphin, Underwater, Providenciales
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They can live in deep, cold oceans far from continents, as well as in coastal waters, lagoons, bays, harbours, and river mouths.
They live in water that has average temperatures from 50 to 90 degrees.
The deep water individuals can live their entire lives without ever seeing land. Their range is one of the most widespread of all dolphins.
They are found in the waters of Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
They even inhabit some inland seas such as the Mediterranian, Red Sea and Black Sea.
They are only absent from polar oceans.
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