Dolphins

Dolphins

By: Ms. Y

Table of Contents

Habitat Diet Communication Glossary

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Habitat

Habitat. Bottlenose dolphins live in a variety of habitats, from coastal waters to the open ocean. Scientists recognize two bottlenose dolphin ecotypes (forms): coastal and offshore.

Dolphin in coastal waters

Dolphins in open ocean

Fun Fact These species have the ability to swim 260 metres beneath the water surface.

DietThe food that dolphins eat is different for each species. While some dolphins eat fishes like herring, cod or mackerel, some others eat squids. Even more, large dolphins like the killer whales, eat some other marine mammals like seals or sea lions and sometime even turtles. Usually, the amount of fish that they eat depends on the kind of fish that they hunt. While mackerel or herring have a lot of fat, squid have not much fat, therefore, to get the energy required for their activities, dolphins have to eat more squid than mackerel.

Communication Dolphins communicate through sounds and whistles. There are several kinds of whistles which are used by dolphins. Some species of dolphins can send the identity information through a signature whistles.

Whistles also coordinate the group hunting which make feeding much easier for dolphins than doing it alone. Burst pulsed sounds are also made by dolphins with the purpose of communication, although there is not enough knowledge about dolphin communication.

Glossary

Species- a group of organisms Mammal- a warm blooded animal Ecotype-a specific animal in a specific habitat