About the Dolphin

Its scientific name comes from the Latin delphin, which comes from the Greek, delphinis. They are marine mammals belonging to the species of cetacean and to subspecies odontoceti which means toothed cetaceans.

Usually, they live in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, and they can be found in different marine ecosystems as in the tropical and polar region. Their size may vary reaching 4 meters length and more than 300 kilograms, which makes them one of the smallest mammals belonging to the cetacean species.

Physically they have elongated bodies, they have atrophiated forelimbs which work as fins, they lack hind limbs and the tail is divided into two. Its skin is smooth, delicate, with no fur, without flakes and they do possess an insulating layer of fatty tissue (blubber) that retains a large number of fat cells to keep their body warm.

They possess respiratory organs that close in an automatic way when submerging in the water, which allows them to ingest food and open their mouth without the water penetrating into their bronchial tubes. To take air in and to breathe, just as the whales do, dolphins need to go to the surface. They may remain submerged during fifty minutes approximately. They are provided with an amount between two hundred and two hundred and sixty teeth in upper and lower mandibles. These mammals never use their teeth to chew food, they grab it and then swallow it completely. Depending on the species, the type of food varies: from different types of fish to cephalopods. They hunt in groups by surrounding their prey, hard work that could last for hours. For that purpose, they possess a system called echolocation, which enables them to obtain the information about the location of the prey by emitting ultrasonic sounds that reflect echoes of response.

On a daily basis, they may eat up to a 10% of their weight.

Their tongue may adopt a “groove” shape, which allows the calves to suckle, and avoids the milk to mix with the salty water. They have a characteristic swimming, jumping and rhythmically diving in the water as if they could ride the waves. This is due to the fact of being a mammal, thus, they need to come to the surface to breathe air, what they do each time they show their heads above the water.

The dolphin is very agile for swimming, with an aerodynamic body, it may reach 50 Km/h and it is able to dive up to two hundred meters deep, although, normally, they may not dive beyond thirty meters deep. They are physically very active, their daily cycle includes activities such as: hunting, moving and playing with their peers, among others. They only sleep three to four hours daily, generally at night. They are known by their intelligence. Dolphins possess an advanced language communication system, comprised by a series of ultrasonic sounds emitted from the larynx. In captivity they show a complex learning ability, which allows them to communicate between them, and through training, they are able to vocalize sounds similar to words, which lets them develop their own idiom to communicate with human beings. According to studies carried with dolphins, they are similar in their intellectual capacity to other mammals such as the chimpanzee and the gorilla.

Females reach sexual maturity between the age of five and twelve years; and males between the age of nine and thirteen. The gestation period lasts between eleven and twelve months, and they give birth to a single calf, which is nourished with maternal milk for a period eighteen months, from there on they may feed themselves without their mother’s help.

They are considered friendly, sociable, peaceful animals, with a great intellectual capacity. They live in groups and possess great organizational and social skills.

Dolphin’s Anatomy

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