10 Facts about Bottlenose Dolphins
Learn all about the magnificent marine mammal, the bottlenose dolphin!
Take a deep breath, gang, and join NG Kids as we learn ten fab facts about one seriously splash-tastic sea creature – the bottlenose dolphin!
1) Bottlenose dolphins are marine mammals that live in tropical and temperate oceans (oceans with mild temperatures) around the world. This includes the waters off the UK and Ireland, where you can spot them swimming and playing in bays and river estuaries!
2) These beautiful creatures have a short thick beak (as their name suggests!) and a curved mouth, giving the appearance that they are always smiling. They are usually grey in colour, and measure around two to four metres in length.
3) Social creatures, bottlenose dolphins travel in groups, called “pods“, of around 10-15. In these groups they play and hunt together, as well as cooperate to raise young dolphin calves and help each other.
4) Bottlenose dolphins are super swimmers, gliding through the water using their curved dorsal fin on their back, a powerful tail and pointed flippers. They can reach speeds over 30km an hour and dive as deep as 250m below the surface!
5) These cool creatures are awesome acrobats, too, and can be seen flipping (or “breaching“) out of the water. In fact, they can launch themselves up to five meters out of the water before crashing back down with a splash! There are different theories as to why they do this – it could be to get a better view of things in the distance, clean parasites off their bodies, communicate with other pods or just for good fun!
6) Although they live underwater, the bottlenose dolphin must come up to the surface to breath air. It breathes through what”s called a “blowhole“, a hole at the top of its head. These clever creatures can open this hole when inhaling and exhaling out of the water, and close it when below the ocean surface. They can hold their breath underwater for around seven minutes.
7) Bottlenose dolphins are kings of communication! They send each other messages in different ways – they squeak and whistle and also use body language, leaping out of the water, snapping their jaws and even butting heads!
8) These magnificent mammals also produce high-pitched clicks to help them navigate and find food – a process called “echolocation“. When the clicking sounds hit an object in the water – such as a rock or fish – they bounce back to the dolphin as echoes. From this, the super swimmers can work out the location, size and shape of the object. Cool, eh?
9) Carnivores, our finned friends eat mostly fish, but will also eat crustaceans such as shrimp and squid, too.
10) Thankfully, bottlenose dolphins are not classed as endangered. However, illegal hunting, fishing nets and pollution pose threats to these incredible creatures.
Love reading about sea life? Then be sure to check out our Humpback Whale Facts!
Photos: Getty Images UK
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Dear Techie Kids,The video you posted is fatnsatic for hearing all the different clicks and whistles that dolphins make! It is pretty amazing that they can tell where fish are, and where they are going, just by listening to the echo that bounces off them.One interesting fact about dolphins is they sleep by resting just one half of their brain at a time, with one eye open. This way they can see if predators are coming and they can also rise to the surface to breathe while they are asleep!I lived in the tropical country of Belize for about a year so I got to see some dolphins, but lots of bats! Belize has lots of rainforest covered hills with limestone caves in them, and I explored some of the caves. There were always bats hanging from the ceiling that I could look at close up with my headlamp. Some of them would be flying around in the cave in total darkness, and they would zoom right in front of me. All of a sudden I would see them flash through the light from my headlamp, just inches from my face. It was very cool!Thanks for another excellent post!Your blogging buddy,Mr. Salsich
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