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DOLPHIN
F.A.Q
DOLPHIN
PICTURE GALLERY 1
DOLPHIN
PICTURE GALLERY 2
DOLPHIN
PICTURE GALLERY 3
DOLPHIN
PICTURE GALLERY 4
Places
to swim with Dolphins
Bottlenose
Dolphin video clips - sounds and more!
Dolphins
and Man.....Equals?
Dolphin
Ecosse dolphin boat trips, Cromarty, Scotland
My Globe chat profile!
Lots of Software!
Brookside
- Uk Soap
Eastenders
- Uk Soap
Hotmail
- free e-mail
Information
about Oxfordshire/Uk
Cookie
Recipes
Foghorn
online cookbook- some pictures
Kochen
& Geniessen Magazine - German Recipes - lots of pictures!
Biggest
German cookbook online
The amazon river
dolphins or botos are born grey and become pinker with age
They have a long powerful beak, small eyes and are slow swimmers. When
excited, they will flush
to a bright pink temporarily. They are unique among dolphins for having
molar-like teeth and can
chew their prey. Also another uniqueness is they have small hairs on their
rostrum which remain
throughout their life. Another interesting habit is they rest on the bottom
of the river.They are
quite solitary animals, and are found in the main rivers of the amazon
and orinoco river systems of
tropical South America. They inhabit muddy stagnant water, and during flooding
will move onto
the flooded forests leaving them at risk of stranding. They are however
extremely flexible so they
can weave through the obstacles of trees as they search for their prey.They
are a completely
freshwater species, never venturing into salt water.Their habitat is threatened
by pollution,
damming, boat traffic, and by man through directly killing them for food
or sport or destruction of Their habitat.
Did
you know?
-
To breathe when Dolphins are asleep, female
dolphins lie on the water's surface with their blowholes exposed to the
air; males sleep just below the surface and rise to breathe periodically
as a reflex action
-
Dolphins can live up to 50 years.
-
Dolphins can grow up to 13 feet in length.
-
Dolphins can weigh up to 450 pounds.
-
Dolphins can stay submerged for up to 15
minutes.
-
Dolphin clicks are short pulses of 300 sounds
per second.
-
Dolphins can dive to 1000 feet.
-
Dolphins can swim substained speeds of 20
mph...burst speeds of over 25 mph.
Did
you know 2 ?
Swimming and Diving:
Dolphins can swim
at speeds up to 25 mph.
Dolphins can dive
as deep as 650 feet.
The dolphins shape
is sleek and hydrodynamic, making it move smoothly through the water.
The dolphin sheds
it outer layer of skin about every two hours.
--------------------
Respiration:
Dolphins breathe
through a blowhole located on top of the head not through the mouth.
Dolphins exchange
90% of air (humans only 15%). They use oxygen more efficiently.
Normal respiration
is 1-6 breaths per minute. Dolphins can hold their breathe for an average
of
5-8 minutes.
Sleep:
Dolphins can sleep
in a semi-alert state by taking catnaps
Dolphins sleep
resting one side of the brain at a time.
Social
Behavior
Pod: the social group to which
a dolphin belongs.
Maternity Pod: mature females
and their young.
Juvenile Pod: branches off
from the maternity pod; can be both sexes.
Male pod: mature males, frequently
visit females, but do not stay.
Mating:
Dolphins do not mate for
life.
Dolphins mate for pleasure
as well as reproduction.
There seems to be no specific
mating season.
Social Hierarchy:
The dominant dolphin leads
the pod.
Dominance is established
among the males in a series of behaviors such as tail slapping.
Dolphins
at play:
Dolphins love to ride the
bow wake of boats.
Dolphins love to body surf
on waves.
Dolphins love to breach or
jump out of the water.
Dolphins chase each other,
tossing objects such as sea weed.
Raking each other with their
teeth is considered a playful show of affection.
Care of others
and protection:
Dolphins will aid sick or
injured dolphins.
Dolphins work together in
a time of danger.
Mature dolphins will expose
themselves to danger to protect the young.
Dolphins have been known
to stay with family and friends that become trapped in nets.
--------------------
Birth and
care of the young:
The gestation period of a
dolphin is 11 to 13 months.
Dolphins often assist each
other with the birth and rearing of a calf.
Dolphins are about 3 feet
long at birth and weigh about 30-40 pounds. Dolphins are born with hair
on the Rostrum but it falls
out soon after birth. Calves are darker in color.
Calves nurse every 20 minutes,
24 hours a day. They have a gap in their front teeth to make
nursing easier.
Calves swim in the Echelon
position. This means they swim on the side to the rear of the mother.
This allows for easy access
for nursing as well as making it easier to swim in the mother's wake.
Communication
and Echolocation (Dolphin Sonar):
Dolphins manipulate air
sacks and the blowhole to produce of variety of clicks, squeaks, and
whistles both in and out
of the water. These sounds may vary in frequency, pattern, volume and
duration. They are used
for communication, navigation and hunting.
Dolphins all have their
own signature whistle.
Dolphins use echolocation
to find things in the water. Sounds are produced in the melon. Sound
waves bounce off of objects
and return as an echo received through the jaw. This information is
then transferred to the
brain. Dolphins can tell a lot about an object through echolocation such
as
size, shape, distance, speed,
density, direction and internal structure of the object.
Burst pulses are barks,
chirps or pops that dolphins make when they are frightened or angry.
Dolphins are able to stun
fish and prey with very high frequency pulses of sound.
How long
do Dolphins live?:
Dolphins live into their
40's.
Dolphins natural predators
are killer whales and sharks.
Sadly, dolphins most dangerous
enemies are humans. We create pollution that poisons their water
and kill many dolphins in
Gillnets, drift nets, and with fishing line. Humans have depleted the
dolphins food source by
overfishing the waters.
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