Whales and Dolphins Habitat

So what is whales and dolphins habitat?

The vast majority of whales and dolphins live in marine (salt water) habitat. There are, however, a few species of dolphins that life in brackish water or freshwater habitat.

Blue Whale Habitat

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Blue whales - the largest animals in the world, live in the open oceans. As opposed to many other whales that can only be found near the coasts, blue whales can be found in the middle of the largest oceans far away from all coasts. There are, however, a few concentrations of blue whales that can be found not far away from the coasts. There is a population of 2000 estimated individuals between Alaska and Costa Rica in eastern Pacific Ocean. In Atlantic ocean, there is a western population of about 500 whales off Newfoundland and Greenland, and an easterly population between Iceland and Azores in south. There is also a population of about 2000 blue whales in southern Atlantic ocean, and another concentration in northern Indian Ocean.

Beluga Whale Habitat

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Beluga Whales also live in marine habitat. As opposed to Blue Whales which are found in both hemispheres, Beluga whales are only found in the Northern Hemisphere, and they are known for living in cold, Arctic and sub-arctic waters. They are found along the coasts of Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Russia. They like to stay close to the ice edge, but they sometimes do stay under the ice, breathing in patches of open water or air pockets under the ice. Occasional Beluga remains have been found quite far inland, indicating they may tolerate freshwater and follow fish like migrating salmon up the river.

Common Dolphins Habitat

Long-Beaked Common Dolphins, Delphinus Capensis, Swimming and Leaping

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Common Dolphins are the oceanic dolphins belonging the genus Delphinus. There are at least two species of them - Short-beaked Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis), and Long-beaked Common Dolphin (Delphinus capensis). Both live in marine habitat, but close to coasts. Short-beaked Common dolphin is found along all the coasts in Europe except Scandinavia, along the eastern and western coasts of North America; western coast of South America and in pockets around Japan, New Zealand and Tasmania. Long-beaked Common Dolphin is found around eastern and western coasts of South America; south-western coast of North America; southern Japan, around all the coasts of Madagascar, and in pockets in southern and western Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

Bottlenose Dolphins Habitat

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Bottlenose Dolphin is another marine dolphin that lives in salt water.

It is found across all the oceans and along all the coasts except Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, Russia, the southern tip of South America, and south-western Africa.

There are actually two species of bottlenose dolphins: Tursiops truncatus and Tursiops aduncus. Both have the same distribution.

Pink Dolphins Habitat

Amazon Pink River Dolphin Boto Breaching, Rio Negro, Amazon

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There are two species of dolphins that are casually called pink dolphins: the Amazon River Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), which lives in the basin of Amazon River in South America; and the Chinese White Dolphin (Sousa chinensis) that lives in the Pearl River delta in Hong Kong, but also in the waters in South-east Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea and northern Australia.

Amazon River Dolphis live entirely in a freshwater habitat, while Chinese White Dolphins live in estuarine (brackish water) and marine (saltwater) habitat. The only real pink dolphin, however, is the Amazon River Dolphin.

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Whales and Dolphins Habitat

Bottlenose Dolphins Habitat

Pink Dolphins Habitat

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