Bottlenose Dolphins
Tursiops truncatus
Tursiops truncatus
Basics: Dolphins are aquatic mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises.
Cool Feature: Most dolphins have acute eyesight, both in and out of the water, and their sense of hearing is superior to that of humans. Like bats, they locate prey using echolocation, which is listening to the echoes that return from various objects in the environment. They use these echoes to locate, range and identify the objects. Echolocation is used for navigation and hunting.
Length: Body up to 12' long; up to 1,400 lb.
Habitat: Dolphins live in the Atlantic; from Nova Scotia to Venezuela, including Gulf of Mexico and in the Pacific; from California to the tropics.
Characteristics: Dolphins are also willing to occasionally approach humans and playfully interact with them in the water. In return, some human cultures, such as the Ancient Greeks treated them with welcome. A ship spotting dolphins riding in their wake was considered a good omen for a smooth voyage. There are many stories of dolphins protecting shipwrecked sailors against sharks by swimming circles around them.
Cool Feature: Most dolphins have acute eyesight, both in and out of the water, and their sense of hearing is superior to that of humans. Like bats, they locate prey using echolocation, which is listening to the echoes that return from various objects in the environment. They use these echoes to locate, range and identify the objects. Echolocation is used for navigation and hunting.
Length: Body up to 12' long; up to 1,400 lb.
Habitat: Dolphins live in the Atlantic; from Nova Scotia to Venezuela, including Gulf of Mexico and in the Pacific; from California to the tropics.
Characteristics: Dolphins are also willing to occasionally approach humans and playfully interact with them in the water. In return, some human cultures, such as the Ancient Greeks treated them with welcome. A ship spotting dolphins riding in their wake was considered a good omen for a smooth voyage. There are many stories of dolphins protecting shipwrecked sailors against sharks by swimming circles around them.
