Dolphin Social Life
Many researchers agree that dolphins are extremely social creatures and actually depend on this interaction for hunting, mating and defending themselves and their pods.
Typically, dolphins live and travel in groups ranging from 2-40 dolphins. But scientists have found dolphin pods as large as several hundred members.
These groups are actually called herds or schools. In some cases, these larger groups have been to known to include more than one species that seem to interact well together.
The species that usually associate in this multi-species group are the Spinner and the Spotted Dolphins. As the feeding habits of these two species are quite the opposite, they are able to travel together without competing for food.
Lasting Relationships
Most experts believe that the social relationships formed by dolphins are actually long lasting and it has been reported that when dolphins meet other pods or groups, they often engage in a sort of greeting ceremony that suggests they are renewing old relationships.
While large groups of dolphins usually have a varied mix of age and sex, the smaller pods tend to be made up of either a single adult, male and female, a group of females and their young or a group of adult and young males. Males are dominant in all groups but there is no evidence of strong social bonds between males and females.
A common example of social interaction and high intelligence, is the constant play that dolphins seem to engage in. Scientists report that juvenile and adult dolphins often chase each other and toss items such as seaweed back and forth.
Day to day Relationships
Dolphins often have close body contact with other dolphins through rubbing, petting, and even hitting each other. Dolphins often swim extremely close to each other, often resting fins on the other dolphin. Scientists believe this behavior actually indicates a close friendship. Dolphins also have been watched rubbing pectoral fins as if this was a handshake.
Another way that scientists identify social interactions between dolphins is by their behavior. When aggressive, dolphins tend to approach from a direct or perpendicular line. When the approach is non-threatening, a dolphin usually comes from behind or in an oblique angle.
Communication, the ground for socialization
Dolphins communicate with their pods and large groups usually through whistles. Many scientists and dolphin researchers believe that each individual dolphin actually has a unique whistle that identifies him to other members of his pod or group.
Dolphins in distress seem to use a special whistle that indicates help is needed. The pod or group usually responds quickly.
Social activity beyond limits
While we seem to expect that dolphins should be socially involved only with their own kind, the dolphins’ interest in interacting with humans is clear.
In the wild, dolphins are extremely curious and they will often engage in contact with humans if a chance comes up. In captivity, dolphins are very attached to the people they usually interact like trainers or researchers.
The developed intelligence of dolphins, their advanced capabilities to communicate combined with their need for social interaction make dolphins a unique animal in the nature.
Dolphins Rescuing Humans
Dolphin Heroes, Rescuing Humans and other Cetaceans
Dolphins are social animals, living in groups called pods and taking loving care of their babies. They’re also known to be very friendly to humans; only two cetacean attacks of people are recorded, one a killer whale mistaking a surfboard for a seal and the other a cranky dolphin who had just given birth and been separated from her baby by her trainer. (In the first case, the whale did a double-take and swam off, and in the second, the dolphin just nipped the trainer.) With these sorts of dispositions, it’s not really odd that dolphins should be credited with rescuing people. But do they really?
Dolphin Heroes
In Greek stories and old sea stories, there are dozens of claims of dolphins helping drowning sailors, rescuing people from sharks, and making themselves useful as guides through treacherous waters. The “treacherous waters” guiding can be ascribed to the dolphin’s needing a similar water depth as many boats.
Dolphins and other cetaceans also help injured members of their family groups and newborn babies to the surface by swimming under them and nudging upward, just as some reports describe them doing with humans. Interestingly, there are some real reports of dolphins helping other cetaceans. In 1983 at Tokerau Beach, North-land, New Zealand, a pod of pilot whales ran aground during ebb-tide. The Zealanders who lived there came out and did their best to keep the whales alive, sponging their skin and calming them, until the tide came back in. But even then the whales were having trouble orienting.
Dolphins came to the rescue. Somehow, a pod of dolphins who were nearby figured out what was happening. They swam into the shallows, putting themselves at risk, and “herded” the pilot whales out to sea, saving 76 of 80 whales. Five years earlier, a similar incident had occurred at Whangarei harbor. If dolphins are smart enough and helpful enough to save other cetaceans in that manner, why not humans.
Real-Life Cases: Dolphins Saving Humans
You’ve seen it in Flipper and other popular culture stories; dolphins rescuing humans from drowning or sharks, keeping them safe from harm. But does it really happen?
The answer is, surprisingly often.
Several years ago, in the Gulf of Akaba, a British tourist was rescued by three dolphins from sharks. Near the Sinai Peninsula, a ship captain had stopped his boat so several passengers could watch dolphins playing. Three of the passengers decided to swim with them, and one stayed a little longer than the others. To his horror, he was bitten by a shark – and more were coming. Suddenly, three dolphins placed themselves between the tourist and the sharks, smacking the water with tails and flippers, and drove the sharks off so the man could be rescued.
In 2004, a group of swimmers were confronted by a ten-foot great white shark off the northern coast of new Zealand. A pod of dolphins “herded” them together, circling them until the great white fled. There are several other examples from the area of Australia of similar incidences.
In another case in the Red Sea, twelve divers who were lost for thirteen and a half hours were surrounded by dolphins for the entire time, repelling the many sharks that live in the area. When a rescue boat showed up, it appeared that the dolphin pod were showing them where the divers were; they leaped up in the air in front of the rescuers, jumping toward the lost people as if to lead the boat onward – as, according to old stories, they often did with endangered ships in treacherous water.
Because we can’t talk to dolphins, we can’t really fathom what their motives are in these situations. It is, however, very possible that they are indeed trying to help and protect fellow mammals in the ocean to safety. If this is true, it means that they are the only animals, besides humans, which show true altruism.
Killer Whales Top Facts
Killer whales (Orcas) are fascinating creatures that attract a great deal of attention from marine biologists, as well as the general public.
Research is always being done about Killer Whales, and new facts about their habits, socialization, intelligence, and travel patterns are being discovered continuosly.
Killer Whales are one of the fastest creatures in the sea, traveling up to 30 miles per hour.Killer Whales are able to control the flow of blood to their hearts and brains, which keeps them from suffering from a lack of oxygen when they are deep underwater.
killer Whales eat up to 5% of their body weight each day. This averages out to over 500 pounds of food for each Orca.
Killer Whales do most of their socialization within their own pods. However, pods do socialize with other pods as well.
When breeding, Killer Whales do not breed with relatives. They only breed with killer whales that are not closely related to them within their own pods.
” Killer Whales eat up to 5% of their body weight every day.
This averages out to over 500 pounds of food.”
Killer Whales are called “Killer Whales” because they feed on other dolphins and smaller whales, not because they kill people. They are also know as orcas.The only recorded instances of a killer whale attacking a human being have been of attacks by Orcas held in captivity. No killer whale that lives in the wilds has ever attacked a human being.
Every Killer Whale has a mark behind it’s dorsal fin that is totally unique. These marks are used by humans to distinguish one killer whale from another, just as humans each have their own specific characteristics that make our appearances different from every one else’s.
Killer Whales use vocalization to communicate with each other, but each pod has it’s own unique ‘accent,’ which makes it easy for Orcas to identify members of their own pods.
Pods of killer whales are found in all oceans in the world, but the greatest numbers are found in cooler waters.
Killer Whales are actually dolphins. In fact, they are the largest dolphins in existence, and can be up to 30 feet or more in length, and weigh up to 12,000 pounds.
Killer Whale brain is five times larger than a humans. They are very social, intelligent, and curious. killer whales brains that have been studied with microscopes have proven to be as structured and developed as the human brain.
Killer Whales have very organized and complex social structures, and divide themselves in pods, which operate as human families do. They protect their young, ill, and injured within their pods.
Killer Whales spend 60% of their time foraging for food. killer whales do not migrate, but they have been known to travel hundreds of miles to find fresh food that is in ‘season.’
Life expectancy of a Killer Whale in the wild is 50 – 60 years for males, and up to 90 years for females, however, Killer Whales held in captivity have not lived longer than 30 years, and the average life expectancy for captive Orcas is only 20 years.
Female Killer whales usually do not breed until they are between the ages of 12 and 16 years old. Their gestation period is 15 – 17 months, as opposed to 9 months for humans. They nurse their calves for up to 2 years. On an average, each female Orca that lives in the wilds will have approximately five calves during her lifetime.
Facts about Dolphins
Dolphins have been interacting with humans for as long as we have known of their existence.
During this time, their more dangerous predator and the only one that have dramatically reduced dolphin population is the human.
Even though we all agree that Dolphins are wonderful creatures that seem to be extremely intelligent and friendly, we still are a huge threat for dolphins.
This site is a tribute for dolphins, these great animals which everybody likes, but know so little about them.
A deeper knowledge and further information about dolphins is definitively the first step towards better conservation and understanding of these wonderful mammals. Besides, the information is the weapon and our little contribution to fight dolphin killing and habitat damage.
Trying to provide unique and different information about Dolphins, we have classified our articles into singular and uncommon categories like “dolphin way of life”, which includes the information about daily dolphin activities, for example “what do dolphins eat?” or “social relationships”, among others.
Regarding the main survival activities, you will find detailed information about dolphin reproduction, the way they hunt and how they communicate. Atht he anatomic level, a detailed analysis about the technique called echolocation, their basic anatomy and physiology.
The section related to humans is devoted to the relationship between dolphins and humans, including articles which describe human-dolphin encounters like the incredible rescues of humans by dolphins and how dolphins have impacted our culture reflecting this influence in movies, books and many other ways of expression that have existed for centuries and were recorded in ancient cultures at the extend that they were included in Greek and Roman mythology.
Finally, the section dolphins for kids has been developed thinking in little kids, trying to provide them with basic information about dolphins through educative activities like puzzles, coloring pages or how to draw a dolphin with the idea to make kids aware of dolphin conservation in a funny way.
Dolphins in Captivity
Stories of boys riding dolphins date all the way back to Roman times, and even today scientific researchers keep in captivity wild dolphins they’re studying.
Humans, looking to know more and more about nature, have been capturing wild dolphins and even breeding them for long time.
Dolphins, with their charmingly playful personality, breathtaking acrobatic ability, and affinity for humans, are among the most sought-after animals for viewing by humans. Is it, therefore, any wonder that dolphins are held in capitivity to entertain people?
With dolphin intelligence and unique abilities, it’s also not surprising that they have been used as study subjects by those seeking to unlock the mysteries of intelligence and communication. There’s no denying that these studies and the opportunities for seeing dolphins up close at dolphinariums have added to the total of human knowledge as well as the love of many for dolphins.
But there’s a dark side to dolphins in captivity. Because of methods used to capture wild dolphins, pod populations may be damaged, sometimes beyond repair. And because of sometimes-lax laws regulating their treatment, individual dolphins have occasionally been abused and mistreated.
Capturing Wild Dolphins
One of the tragedies of captive dolphins is how they’re captured to begin with. Most dolphin hunters seek out the more populous pods. Dolphins are herded by helicopter and, sometimes, explosives, into an area where a boat may capture one or more by net.
For a while in the 60s, hunters of cetaceans were capturing many individuals from the same pod, possibly leading to the extinction of entire families. Today, they are legally barred from doing this.
Still, capture is hard on any dolphin. They’re plucked from the sea and family, pulled into the harsh air where water doesn’t cushion their bodies. They have trouble breathing. Their skin must be rubbed with lotion and doused with water so that it doesn’t dry out. And then they’re transported for hours, unable to move, to a tank filled with chlorinated water instead of the sea water they’re used to. The remarkable thing is that they usually survive the transport at all.
Dolphins in Dolphinariums
Yet dolphins, for the most part, seem reasonably resilient to captivity. They like humans, and adapt well to being around them and even to being trained. Bottlenose dolphins are especially popular due to their intelligence and mimicry of human language.
Around five thousand dolphins and other cetaceans have been trapped for the purposes of display, research, or military use over the last three decades. After some rather egregious abuses that led to dolphin deaths, the US and Canadian government now have strict controls over who may capture and own a dolphin.
About three quarters of dolphins captured are female, and most captured dolphins overall are immature. Though they seem to do well in captivity, actually they have a much shorter average lifespan expectancy of dolphins in the wild.
And though the laws covering US and European dolphinariums are quite strict and detailed, this has not always been the case; in many countries today, lax regulations have led to filthy, inadequate tanks, sick dolphins, and the death and suffering of individual dolphins. This is nothing less than a crime