Bottle Nosed Dolphins

FAST FACTS

Bottlenose dolphins may look like fish but they are mammals. They breathe air, just like you do.

These aquatic acrobats are called bottlenose dolphins because their beaks are shaped like bottles.

Beaks are usually 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) long.





The scientific family name for dolphins is Delphinidae.

The largest dolphins are orcas, also called killer whales.

The scientific name for the bottlenose dolphin is Tursiops truncates.


Although dolphins live in most of the world's oceans, bottlenoses are largely found in temperate and tropical waters.

Males are larger than females and can be as long as 13 feet (4 meters) and weigh more than a thousand pounds (454 kilograms).


Having little or no sense of smell, dolphins make up for it with a sharp sense of hearing.

Bottlenose dolphins have excellent vision both in and out of water.

Bottlenose dolphins look like they might be grinning. Their smiles are formed by the way their mouths curve.


Females give birth every two to three years, normally one calf after a pregnancy of one year. The calves are often born tail first so they don't drown.

A calf nurses while underwater and continues nursing for up to 8 months.


When born, a bottlenose calf is approximately 3 to 4 feet (.9 to 1 meter) long and weighs about 44 pounds (20 kilograms).

Bottlenose dolphins swim in groups called pods. A pod usually has a dozen or so animals.

Pods often combine to form herds. Some herds include Once in a while they may feed alone, but most often bottlenoses team up and hunt in groups. While several bottlenose dolphins in a group herd the fish into smaller and smaller circles, the others take turns zipping into the school to snap up fish!


They have been known to approach boats and people in the water in a seemingly friendly fashion, letting themselves be touched. Their skin is smooth and feels sort of like an inner tube.

The brain of a bottlenose dolphin is larger than a human brain. However, the part concerned with intelligence is not.


Dolphins will eat almost any kind of fish. Their diets also include squid and small crustaceans such as shrimps. They swallow their food whole.

Bottlenose dolphins are very social animals.

Dolphins have been spotted jumping high in the air, landing on their sides or back.

It is important to remember that bottlenose dolphins can be unpredictable and aggressive—to each other and to humans. They must be respected as the wild and beautiful animals they are.


credit goes to http://kids.nationalgeographic.com