DOLPHINS 

GENERAL INFO

SPECIAL FEATURES

HABITAT

DIET

REPRODUCTION

BODY SYSTEMS

HUMAN IMPACT

WEBLINKS

SOURCES

 

CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:Cordata
Class: Mammalia
Order:Cetacea
Family:Delphiniadae
Genus species: Delphinius delphis

GENERAL INFO
An average dolphin lives to be 20 years old. SDRP studies have shown that some dolphins live into their 40s; a few females have even lived past 50. This appears to be a maximum age, comparable to a human living to be about 100. Only 1% to 2% of dolphins reach that age.

The average length of a dolphin is 8 to 9 feet long and males weigh up to 800 pounds while females weigh close to 600 pounds. 

SPECIAL FEATURES                                                                                                                                  Dolphins are mammals but they live in the water. Since this is a problem they have when they need to breath they have a blow hole. This allows them to come to the surface of the water to take a breath without exposing their entire head. 

HABITAT
Dolphins are found all over the world; generally in shallow seawater of the continental shelves. You can witness dolphins in the cold waters as well as the warm tropical waters. Of course, there are certain species of dolphins that show preference to a particular temperature. The bottlenose dolphin prefers to live in warmer waters. Dolphins can at times be found in rivers as well. These species may never ever venture towards the oceans.

DIET
Dolphins are active predators and eat a wide variety of fishes, squids, and crustaceans such as shrimps. The foods available to a dolphin vary with its geographic location.

Dolphins eat approximately 4% to 5% of their body weight in food per day. A nursing mother's daily intake is considerably higher: about 8%

REPRODUCTION                                                                                                                                         Dolphins are most likely to mate during the spring, with a male-female courtship ritual playing a large part in dolphin dating.

When copulating, the male dolphin nudges the female from behind with his sex organ for several minutes, and then mounts her from behind. After this, dolphin mating is roughly as ordinary as any other mammalian mating.

Dolphins are among the most sexual of animals, and are not monogamous. When aroused, a dolphin male may mate several times an hour, often with the same female but not always. Even though, males swim away and female dolphins usually depend on their pods to help them protect the baby dolphin.

BODY SYSTEMS

HUMAN IMPACT                                                                                                                                   Dolphins, particularly coastal animals, are affected by heavy boat traffic, habitat destruction, and pollution. Industrial and agricultural pollutants in coastal habitats have resulted in high levels of toxins in the water and high concentrations of toxins in dolphin tissues.

In the past, bottlenose dolphins have been taken directly for meat, leather, oil, and meal (for fertilizer and animal feed). Hunting still occurs in various parts of the world including Peru, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Japan.

In the course of fishing operations, gear and nets can accidentally entangle and injure or drown dolphins. Dolphins that are injured or killed and discarded in the course of fishing operations are called bycatch. Experts have concluded that    it's likely hundreds of thousands of marine mammals are killed as bycatch each year. The incidental capture of whales and dolphins in fishing gear is one of the most significant threats to some bottlenose dolphin populations.

WEBLINKS http://www.dolphins-world.com/

http://www.seaworld.org 

SOURCES: http://www.earthtrust.org/wlcurric/dolphins.html  

http://www.follybeach.com/Dolphin-face.jpg

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/dolphin-habitat-where-do-dolphins-live.html

http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/bottlenose/dietdol.html

http://www.dolphins-world.com/