This weeks #SeaNJ #SeaNY featured creature is the Bottlenose Dolphin. Bottlenose dolphins in the southern New Jersey coastal area generally give birth in May, so be on the look out for calves along side their mothers this summer! Fun facts about bottlenose dolphins: 1) They are the most well-known dolphin species, popularized by the TV show Flipper in the 1960s. 2) Groups of these dolphins, called pods, usually contain between 10-30 individuals but can contain several hundred. 3) They use echolocation to locate fish prey. They emit clicking sounds and interpret the echoes as they return to them, similarly to how humans use sonar to locate items underwater. 4) Biologists recently discovered the bottlenose dolphin behaviour called sponging spans centuries. The creature will put a sponge on its beak to protect it during foraging for bottom dwelling fish. Because dolphins must consciously choose to breathe (unlike humans), they sleep with half their brain at a time, alternating which half is asleep and which half is awake. This way, they can be partly asleep while continuing to breathe and swim! Photos courtesy of Chicago Zoological Society, Enchanted Learning Software, and the TelegraphUK, respectively.
Posted on: Fri, 02 May 2014 14:40:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015