Earthwatch - Wild Dolphin Societies Teachers in the Field

How can you tell one dolphin from another?
If you mean “species,” like Risso’s, Rough-toothed, Spinner, Striped, Atlantic Humpbacked, White-beaked dolphins and others, you would have to look for distinguishing characteristics, like color, shape, size, habits and location.  If you mean, how can you tell one bottlenose dolphin from another, you check its most prominent characteristic, which is the dorsal fin.

How many bottlenose dolphins are left in the world?
It is fairly common and widespread throughout the world.  It is not endangered though the species may be declining in northern Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea.

Do you know the length of the bottlenose dolphin?
It averages up to about 12 feet in length.

How much do baby dolphins weigh?
Birth weight averages 35-65 pounds.

How long can they hold their breath?
Dives rarely last longer than 3 – 4 minutes inshore, though off shore, they dive for longer periods.

How much salt do they live in?
In Sarasota Bay the salinity averages about 30 parts per thousand salinity, but the ocean averages about 35 parts per thousand.

What color is the bottlenose dolphin?
The color is generally silvery gray.  The mammal is darker above and lighter below.

What do they eat?
They eat fish, especially mullet, squid, sharks (though not always successfully) and almost anything else it can catch.

Are the bottlenose dolphin an endangered species?
No.

Does the bottlenose dolphin have a blowhole?
Most definitely.

How high can the bottlenose dolphin jump?
The bottlenose dolphin can leap up to 10 feet or more.  It depends on the depth of the water because it needs to use its flukes to get a good starting jump.   If the water is shallow then the leap is lower.

Do they ever attack people?
I have never heard or read of an attack.

Do dolphins live in a polluted ocean or bay?
There is pollution everywhere in this world.  Sometimes a dolphin will die when a fish hook was left in a fish and the dolphin eats the fish and the hook gets caught in their esophagus.

What is the depth of the water that this mammal lives in?
In Sarasota Bay the depth is quite shallow and the dolphin can scrape his belly on the bottom.  The dolphin can live in inshore waters in various depths.

What bays do they live in?
Dolphins live in bays all over the world.  They do not live in the polar regions.

Are they cool to look at?
Most definitely!  They are sleek, playful, powerful and friendly.

How many dolphins do you see per day?
It varies.  One day we see 20 dolphins in two sightings.  On another day we could see more or less.  There are many variables.

Do the dolphins come close to your boat?
Yes, in fact they swim under it!

What do you like learning about dolphins?
I like learning how they interact with each other and their environment.  I liked learning about a dolphin who caught her fish by swimming next to a sea wall and about another dolphin that likes to come up and beg for food from boats.

How many dolphins swim in a pod?
It varies.  1-10 (inshore); 1-25 (offshore), up to 500 may occur offshore.

Have you seen any baby dolphins?
Yes, we have seen many moms with their calves.  The calf will stay with the mom for around 3 years.

How long is the bottlenose dolphin?
Its average length is 10 feet.

How fast can the dolphin swim?
The U.S. Navy reports that dolphins can swim 10, 20, 30 and maybe up to 50 miles per hour!

Why are dolphins called porpoises?
It is another name for dolphins.  In fact the movement that looks like a half-circle while the dolphin is moving along is called "porpoising."

How much does the dolphin eat in a day?
??

How many kinds of dolphins are there?
I can list at least 14 species.  There are more...

1. Tucuxi
2. Short-Snouted Spinner
3. Long-Snouted Spinner
4. Atlantic Hump-backed
5. Pantropical Spotted
6. Atlantic Spotted
7. Southern Rightwhale
8. Common
9. Striped
10. Rough-Toothed
11. Indo-pacific Hump-Backed
12. Northern Rightwhale
13. Bottlenose

What is it like to study dolphins?
I am having fun being out on the water during the day, meeting interesting people and learning a lot by answering your questions.

Do dolphins sing and communicate with each other?
Yes, baby dolphins communicate with its mother almost from the moment of birth with weak whistling signals that can be seen as a stream of bubbles from the blowhole.  Every individual dolphin has its own "signature whistle."

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