Bottlenosed Dolphins |
Family Genus Species Delphinadae Tursiops Truncatus |
| Habitat: Found in Atlantic area from Nova Scotia to Venezuala, including the Gulf of Mexico, Pacific area from Southern California to southern Tropics |
| Description: Long slender and very powerful bodies, males reaching over 10 feet in length and weighing between 400 and 500 lbs. Dark gray in color, white or pink bellies. Melon is large and convex. |
| Food Source: Varies with location; mullet, catfish, eels, rays, crustaceans, octopus |
| Behavior: Very animated and often attracted to people. |
| Vocalization: High-frequency
echolocation signals emitted from top of melon (blowhole to snout) and received back in
lower jaw from 4 to 170 kHz. Their signals range from sounding like a creaking door
evolving to shrill whistles; and are emitted between 30 and 800 times per second
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| Author's comment: I have seen them in the Pacific both near Hawaii and Mexico. Near Baja Mexico they were closely tending the birthing process in the nursery lagoons of Magdelana Bay. They were very attentive to the females and seemed intricately involved in what was going on and the success of it all. In the Hawaiian Islands they came to meet me as I slid off my kayak to join three Humpback whales. They were extremely friendly and were quite comfortable coming up to close range. One of them swam up to me and looked me right in the face at close range. He then went belly up with this fins pointed inward and hung there. |
| Notice the gray stroked design in the melon (top of head) |
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They seemed jealous of the attention given to whales. They performed wild leaps and surfed on the bow waves of the panga to get attention. |
Bottlenosed dolphins enjoy
monitoring the birth process. Here they are in the photos above and below at
Magdelana Bay, one of the main Gray whale birthing grounds. They stay very close to
the laboring females and then seem to take on a "nanny" status with the new
calves.