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Dolphins are aquatic mammals characterized by a curved mouth that gives them a permanent smile. For this reason and for other traits, such as their curious and friendly character, they are one of the animals that people like the most. Currently, there are 43 different species of dolphins, of which 38 are marine species and 5 are river species.
If you want to know more about dolphin characteristics, delve into this article that we present to you from Green Ecologist, because here we talk about both its physical features and its habitat, food, reproduction, intelligence and more details related to them.
Physical characteristics of dolphins
These are the main characteristics of dolphins:
- Dolphins are carnivorous cetaceans and, also, they are odontocetes, that is, they have teeth.
- They are characterized by having two lateral fins and a triangular fin at the top, along with a horizontal tail They use to propel themselves and a beak-shaped snout.
- These aquatic animals have a smooth and rubbery skin, generally blue-gray in color, although it can also be black, white, light gray, bluish or even pink and, normally, a darker color is distinguished on the back compared to the rest of the body. Here you can learn more about the pink dolphins of the Amazon.
- Under the skin, they have an insulating layer of fat.
- Dolphins need to rise to the surface of the oceans or seas to breathe at different time intervals, through their spiracle.
Dolphin habitat
Dolphins have a global distribution, that is, they are by everyone, from Ecuador to subpolar regions avoiding extremely cold waters, although most species are centered in temperate zones and tropical areas.
Normally, they inhabit shallow seas in areas of continental shelves and, although most species of dolphins are marine, there are also some who live in sweet waters. The distribution and habitat of dolphins is different for each species, although all will be able to change their habitat when necessary to survive.
What do dolphins eat
Although it is difficult to determine exactly the amount of food consumed by a dolphin, the average daily consumption is between 2 and 10% of its body weight. Their diet is much more complex and diverse than we think, and it can also change geographically and seasonally.
Although the sardine (Sardina pilchardus) is one of the most important fish species within the dolphin diet, these cetaceans are opportunistic when it comes to food, which implies that they feed on any species of fish or other organisms found in the area, resulting in a diet consisting of a wide range of fish and a wide variety of prey.
If we focus on it geographically, we can these examples of dolphin feeding:
- It has been observed that the most important prey for dolphins around Europe in general are: the sardine, the anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) or mackerel (Scomber spp.).
- In British waters, herring (Clupea harengus L.), the sprat (Sprattus sprattus) and squid, such as Todaropsis eblanae.
- On the French coast, on the other hand, the prey of the dolphins are mainly gádidos, preferably the blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) or Trispterus spp. Beyond fish and squid, dolphins also eat some crustaceans, such as crabs, some mollusks, especially cephalopods, such as the octopus, and plankton.
To expand more on this information, you can consult this other Green Ecologist article on What dolphins eat and where they live.
Dolphin hunting techniques
These are the hunting techniques most used by dolphins:
- One of the most used techniques to find the prey is the behaviour bait-balling ("The bait ball"), where a group of dolphins swim in a circle around a school of fish, forcing the school of fish to take refuge among them and, in turn, preventing the fish from escaping, which ends up generating a ball between them which makes them easy prey. In this way, the dolphins have abundant prey in a small region.
- Another technique for capturing food is called corralling ("Corollary") and is typically used in or near shallow water. This technique consists of chasing the fish into shallow waters, or narrow and small places where they are trapped and have no option to escape. In these circumstances, dolphins benefit from the limited mobility that the fish will have for better attack.
- In addition to these techniques, dolphins can also search for food by echolocation, that is, generating sound waves which bounce off animals or other objects around them, and dolphins receive information through the echo that is emitted from the rebound of the waves. Through the creation of these sound waves, the dolphins receive information regarding the size, direction, distance and thickness of the animals or objects from which they bounce, thus providing them with crucial information so that the dolphins can determine what type of noise. object is about. Echolocation is especially important in dark areas or where light is scarce.
Reproduction of dolphins
Dolphins give birth and raise their young, as we humans do, that is, they are viviparous animals. They suckle their young up to eighteen months and remain with their mother until three years. During this time, another dolphin babysits them (either male or female) and will be the only dolphin that the mother will allow to approach the calf. Dolphins have more than one couple throughout their lives and generally give birth to only one calf at a time.
The intelligence of dolphins and their behavior
The Dolphins they live in mandas, mostly in groups of up to 12 dolphins, although in the open ocean when several groups meet the dolphins unite some groups, forming large herds. This has awarded them with a highly developed social behavior. Within these groups, dolphins hunt together while working collaboratively to capture their prey, even taking turns hunting or guarding; even so, there are some species that prefer to search for food individually.
On the other hand, these mammals endowed with great intelligence they communicate through squeals and whistles, although the possibility that dolphins possess a language is still unknown today. In fact, it is known that, in some genera, each dolphin has its own characteristic whistle and, based on this own whistle, dolphins can easily recognize other specific individuals they haven't seen in a long time.
After knowing all this about these incredible aquatic mammals, we recommend you read this other article about The 10 most intelligent animals in the world, among which are dolphins.
If you want to read more articles similar to Dolphin characteristics, we recommend that you enter our Wild Animals category.
Bibliography- Marçalo, A., Nicolau, L., Giménez, J., Ferreira, M., Santos, J., Araújo, H., et al. & Pierce, G. J. (2022). Feeding ecology of the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) in Western Iberian waters: has the decline in sardine (Sardina pilchardus) affected dolphin diet ?. Marine Biology, 165(3), 44.
- Au, W. W., & Simmons, J. A. (2007). Echolocation in dolphins and bats. Physics Today, 60(9), 40.
- Silva, M. A. (1999). Diet of common dolphins, Delphinus delphis, off the Portuguese continental coast. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 79(3), 531-540.
- National Geographic. (2015-2020). Dolphins. National Geographic Partners, California.
