Have you ever wondered how the Tursiops Truncatus dolphin got its name? It got its name because it's nose, which is short and stubby. The Tursiops Truncatus' coloring is different from other dolphins. Their physical appearance is intriguing and distinctive. They have fascinating family life and eating habits. You can even see bottlenose dolphins in many places in the U.S.A. Their main home is the Pacific Ocean, but they also live in many other places.
The coloring of the bottlenose dolphin is unique. It is light gray on top and pale pink on bottom. This coloring helps disguise itself from its predators. The light gray coloring helps it be camouflaged with shadows in the water. The underside coloring, a pale pink, helps the calves (babies) find the mothers.
Bottlenose dolphins have short, stubby beaks. Many think it is shaped like a glass bottle. The nose is curved downwards with a hint of a bottle shape. The scientific name, of which few people know, is Tursiops Truncatus. That is why they have the common name “Bottlenose Dolphin.” Both names are descriptive, but the common name is most easily understood.
The size and weight of a bottlenose dolphin can vary greatly. Usually they are about six to twelve feet long! Bottlenose dolphins can also average one hundred fifty pounds to two hundred pounds. You would not think that they would weigh one hundred-fifty to two hundred pounds, but they really do weigh that much. The males are significantly larger than the female bottlenose. This accounts for the previously mentioned variance of sizes.
The dolphin is quite interesting. They have a high and falcate (curving) dorsal fin. The flukes from tip to tip are up to twenty-four inches long, or two feet long. ...
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Analysis of "Mirror Self-Recognition in Bottlenose Dolphins: Implications for Comparative Investigations of Highly Dissimilar Species"
Monodon Monoceros, Latin for “one tooth, one horn”#; or Narhval, Norwegian for “corpse whale” , because of it mottled coloration suggests a bloated corpse#.Narwhals are in the white whale family, along with the beluga, but are actually covered with spots of black, white, gray-green, and cream. Newborns are dappled gray-brown, white spots come with age#. At birth the calves are about 5 feet long and 180 pounds. Male Narwhals can reach 16 feet long, not including the horn which is 8 to 9 feet long, and weigh around 3000 pounds. Females are around 13 ft. long, do not have tusks, and weight around 2000 pounds. Adult males and females are usually dark in the area of the head, especially top of the head and upper and lower jaws#. Unlike most other whales, Narwhals have no dorsal fin, instead they have a low bumpy ridge that begins at about the midpoint of the back and continues to the fluke#.
One of the most common dolphins that are found in southern California is the bottlenose dolphin (Kelly). The bottlenose dolphin is mainly found in coastal waters between 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south, also in Northern Europe waters. It is believed that there are two types of bottlenose dolphin regional wise: oceanic form and coastal form. This species is studied the most by biologists (Jefferson). The coastal population lives in fairly open groups with twenty or less in a pod, some groups are found to contain more in open ocean. It is not uncommon for these species to interact and breed with other species, as would a human interact with other diverse humans. The dolphins feeding behavior is adapted to the availability of resources. They sometimes are known to work together to catch fish from large schools, they also trail behind large fishing boats to catch what falls behind (Leatherwood).
A unique feature the Humpback whale has is its very big flipper or fin. It has one of the biggest whale flippers, which can be found on planet earth. The flipper is used to change
Orcinus orca is the scientific name for the massive marine mammal. Orcas are not rare, but have declining numbers in some areas (Martin.) Orcas are found from the Artic Ocean to the Antartic Ocean. (Britannica) They belong to the Delphinidae, or dolphin family, which is the largest of their species. Female orcas grow to be at the most 15 feet, and weigh up to 4 tons, but the males can grow as large as 20-30 feet, and weight up to 8 tons. (Martin) The color of the orca is white in some spots, black on the majority of the body, and gray just behind the dorsal fin. It is white on the chin, belly and the eye. The white patch above the eye is usually mistaken for the eye, and may confuse their prey, but acts as a camouflage for the eye. The name “killer whale” makes people tend to believe that this is a viscious man-eating mammal, yet it is one of the most shrewd, docile and playful species of the marine mammals. The orca is sexually mature at 10-15 years of age, much like humans, which is 12-13 years of age. They tend to mate year round, and is able to have a calf every two years. It is interesting to know that lactation of the mother lasts 12 or more months (Wynne.) The life expectancy of orcas is 45-50 years of age.
Orca whales are the largest members of the dolphin family. Orcas are very curious creatures, they like to sky hop, which is when they poke their heads out of the water and look around, and they can also dive to as much as a hundred feet. These social animals live in pods and stay with them for their whole lives. They are so family oriented that they can may sleep together in a tight circle and have synchronized breathing. Orcas can grow up to thirty-two feet and can weigh nine tons. They typically eat five percent of their body weight and are amazing hunters. The lifespan of an orca in their natural habitat is about fifty years. This lifestyle for them is wonderful because they can swim as far as they want to and are free. Orcas should not be held captive because the capture process is dangerous, it is not good for their health, and their trainers are at risk. Free Willy. Dir Simon Wincer. 1993.Video. Warner Bros Home Video
Striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba, are some of the most abundant and well-known dolphins in the world. These dolphins can reach the length of about 9 ft (2.7 m). The males weigh up to 350 lbs (160 kg). The females weigh 330 lbs (150 kg). Striped dolphins have a slender body shape combined with a long beak, which is separated from their forehead, and they also have a curved dorsal fin. The beak, tapered flipper, tail, and back, or cape, are dark blue/gray. The name “Stenella coeruleoalba” refers to the pattern of blue and white stripes along the lateral and dorsal fins of their body. Their underbelly (ventral) is usually white. Their primary feature is a black stripe that runs along their full length and to their flippers. There is also a dark blue patch around the eyes. Calves and juveniles may have more muted colorations and patterns.
Bottlenose dolphins became part of a United States Navy program in 1959 for the purpose of conducting scientific research into their sonar and hydrodynamics in hopes of getting design ideas for submarines, ship hulls and weapons. It was discovered dolphins hear and navigate in the water by using their natural sonar, which happened to be more precise than most fabricated sonar systems. In the mid-sixties, Navy dolphins were used as mail carriers to underwater laboratories in their home of San Diego, California.
Many people can feel connected to the earth and their surroundings by observing and learning the way of the animals, including the whales. The Bowhead whale has been an important part in the Inuit-Inupiaq people of northern Alaska’s way of living. Native Americans have used animals like the whale in their stories to explain life and moral values. An American Indian author, Vine Deloria Jr., stated that, “Native Americans saw themselves as being related in some fundamental manner to every other living species. They believed each species had a particular knowledge of the universe and specific skills for living in it.” (Caduto and Bruchax, XI) Vine Deloria along with many other Native American authors has taught us through their words the roles that animals play in the Native American culture. The animals in these stories teach us some of the same values that are displayed in traditional literature, including fairy tales, nursery rhymes and The Bible. We can see how Bowhead whales’ physical traits and connection to the earth are linked to Native American culture by examining scientific information and Native American literature.
Whale sharks were named Rhincodon typus by Andrew Smith, in 1828. The naming was hard due to the similarities between the family Ginglymostomatidae and the family Orectolobiformes. The closest relatives to the whale shark are nurse and zebra sharks. The whale shark is the only species in their family, Rhincondontidae. Whale sharks...
Humpback whales breath voluntarily, unlike humans. Since they have to remember to breath, researchers believe humpbacks sleep by shutting off half of their brain at a time. Like orcas and dolphins, humpback whales have noses at the top of their head called blowholes (Animal Planet). Humpback whale calves do not stop growing until they are ten years old (National Geographic). They breed, give birth and care for their newborn calves in the warm waters of Tonga. Instead of teeth, humpbacks have baleen plates, they are brush-like strands of bristle that trap there food until it is swallowed. They have very odd mouths that curve downwards, like an eternal frown. Humpback whales are amazing marine mammals (Big Animal Expeditions)
The blue whale is the largest and loudest animal ever known to have existed on Earth. These magnificent creatures can grow up to 100 feet and can weigh more than 200 tones. Their heart is the size of a small car, and a child could crawl through their arteries. Recent studies by the National Geographic Channel suggest that blue whales use vocalization sounds to communicate with one another across the vastness of the sea. This study also suggest that blue whales use their evolved sense of hearing to navigate and to detect food in the depths of the ocean. Blue whales are baleen species, which means they have fringed blades hanging from their upper jaws instead of teeth, called baleen. Blue whales have a mottled gray coloring, however, beneath the surface they appear blue. Blue whales are air-breathing animals yet they can stay underwater for more than 30 minutes.
...r. Even though they live in the ocean all their life and also amusement parks, dolphins are mammals, not fish. That makes them very intersting animals because of all the charactics that they have that people would have never known about. Dolphins are by far the most intelligant marine mammals in the ocean.
When Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins are first born, they are dark gray and get lighter as they grow older, sometimes this will cause spots (WCD). According to Whitfield on page 114, when the Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphin is young it has a normal streamlined body figure, but when it grows older it start to form fatty tissue humps. They have the average lifespan of 40 years (WCD). The Indo-Pacific dolphin can be between 6 ½ feet to 10 feet long with 120 teeth in their long beak. Using their long beak to eat, these dolphins swim up to the shallow waters and hunt for fish (Whitfield 114). Indo-Pacific dolphins are not the only type of dolphins that pray on the
Its body and dorsal surfaces have patterns of light spots and stripes over a dark blue background. The whale shark’s length ranges from 12 meters up to 20 meters on average. Females typically grow to be bigger than the males and weigh anywhere from 47,000lbs to 66,000lbs as adults. It is estimated that this species average lifespan is around 70 years, though accurately measurements have proven difficult (Stevens 2006). Rhincondon typus is known to be primarily a loner traveling by itself the majority of the time, although they are known to seasonally aggregate in specific areas.