First of all, it must be said that dolphins are not fish, despite the fact that they live in water. These creatures are mammals and viviparous, just like all inhabitants of the animal world. In this case, the female gives birth to only one baby, and not many. And the mother bears her child from ten to eighteen months. The name of the animal, which dates back to the ancient Greek language, is translated as “newborn baby.” What this is connected with is now difficult to determine. Perhaps dolphins received this name for their piercing cry, similar to the cry of a child, or perhaps for their resemblance to a human fetus in the womb.

Dolphins are characterized by the presence in both jaws of a fairly significant number of uniform conical teeth, both nasal openings are usually connected into one transverse crescent-shaped opening at the top of the skull, the head is relatively small, often with a pointed muzzle, the body is elongated, and there is a dorsal fin. Very mobile and dexterous, voracious predators, living mostly socially, are found in all seas, rise high in rivers, feed mainly on fish, mollusks, and crustaceans; sometimes they attack their relatives. They are also distinguished by their curiosity and traditional good attitude to a person. Some dolphins have a mouth extended forward in the form of a beak; in others the head is rounded in front, without a beak-like mouth.

Dolphin species

There are more than seventy species of dolphins in nature. They have specific similarities with each other, such as viviparity, feeding on milk, the presence of respiratory organs, smooth skin and much more. Also in dolphins different types has its own characteristics. Some animals have an elongated nasal part, while others, on the contrary, have a depressed one. They may differ in color and body weight.

Common dolphin or white sided cetacean is one of the most gregarious, playful and fast-moving cetaceans. Its speed reaches 36 km/h, and when it rides a ship wave near the bow of high-speed ships, it reaches more than 60 km/h. Jumps "candle" up to 5 m, and horizontally up to 9 m. Immerses for 8 minutes, but usually for a time from 10 seconds to 2 minutes.

Black Sea common white-sided feeds in the upper layer of the sea and does not dive deeper than 60-70 m, but the oceanic form catches fish living at depths of 200-250 m. At food accumulations, the white sided gathers in large herds, sometimes together with other species - pilot whales and short-headed dolphins. It treats humans peacefully, never bites, but does not tolerate captivity well.

White sideds often live in families, composed, as is believed, of the offspring of several generations of the same female. However, males and lactating females with young animals, as well as pregnant females, sometimes form separate (apparently temporary) schools. During the period of sexual activity, mating groups of sexually mature males and females are also observed. Mutual assistance reaction has been developed.

They live up to 30 years. The sound signals of white-sided dolphins are as varied as those of bottlenose dolphins: quacks, howls, squeaks, croaks, cat calls, but whistling predominates. There were up to 19 different signals. In this species, unusually strong signals, the meaning of which is not established, called "shot" (duration 1 s) and "rumble" (duration 3 s) were found to have very high sound pressure (from 30 to 160 bar) and a frequency of 21 kHz.

bottlenose dolphin lives sedentary, or wanders in small flocks. The bottlenose dolphin's tendency to coastal zone explained by the bottom nature of feeding. For food it dives in the Black Sea to a depth of up to 90 m, in the Mediterranean - up to 150 m. There is information that in the Gulf of Guinea it dives to 400-500 m. Under experimental conditions in the USA, it was noted to dive up to 300 m. While hunting for fish, The bottlenose dolphin moves unevenly, jerkily, with frequent sharp turns. Her breathing pauses last from a few seconds to 6-7 minutes, up to a maximum of a quarter of an hour. Most active during the day.

Bottlenose dolphins in captivity breathe 1-4 times per minute, their heart beats 80-140 (on average 100) times per minute. The bottlenose dolphin can reach speeds of up to 40 km/h and jump to a height of up to 5 m.

The bottlenose dolphin skillfully controls the complex vocal apparatus, in which the most significant are three pairs of air sacs connected to the nasal canal. To communicate with each other, bottlenose dolphins emit communication signals with a frequency of 7 to 20 kHz: whistling, barking (chasing prey), meowing (feeding), clapping (terrifying their relatives), etc. When searching for prey and orienting themselves under water, they emit echolocation clicks that resemble creaking of rusty door hinges, frequency 20-170 kHz. American scientists recorded 17 communicative signals in adult bottlenose dolphins, and only 6 in calves. Obviously, the signal system becomes more complex with the age and individual experience of the animal. Of this number, 5 signals were common to bottlenose dolphins, pilot whales and white drums.

Bottlenose dolphins, like all cetaceans, sleep at the surface of the water, usually at night, and during the day only after feeding, periodically opening their eyelids for 1-2 seconds and closing them for 15-30 seconds. A weak blow from the hanging tail from time to time forces the sleeping animal out of the water for another respiratory act. In sleeping dolphins, one hemisphere sleeps alternately, while the other is awake at this time.

Features of behavior

An interesting fact is that dolphins use echolocation to hunt. Their hearing is designed in such a way that, based on the reflected signal, animals can determine the number of objects, their volume and degree of danger. Dolphins can deafen their prey with high-frequency sounds, paralyzing them. These creatures hunt only in packs, and they also cannot live alone. Dolphin families sometimes number about a hundred individuals. Thanks to these abilities, the animal is never left without abundant food.

Interesting facts about the life of dolphins include Gray's Paradox. James Gray established back in the thirties of the twentieth century that the speed of an animal in water is thirty-seven kilometers per hour, which contradicts the muscular capabilities of the body. According to the scientist, dolphins need to change the streamlining of their bodies in order to develop such speed. Experts from the USA and USSR puzzled over this issue, but a final decision was never made.

Dolphins have a weak sense of smell, but excellent vision and absolutely unique hearing. Producing powerful sound pulses, they are capable of echolocation, which allows them to perfectly navigate in the water, find each other and food.

Dolphin speech

Dolphins are capable of producing a wide range of sounds using the nasal air sac located under the blowhole. There are roughly three categories of sounds: frequency-modulated whistles, explosive pulse sounds, and clicks. Clicks are the loudest sounds made by marine life.

Dolphins have a system sound signals. Signals of two types: echolocation (sonar), which serve animals to explore the situation, detect obstacles, prey, and “chirps” or “whistles”, for communication with relatives, also expressing the emotional state of the dolphin.

The signals are emitted at very high, ultrasonic frequencies that are inaccessible to human hearing. The sound perception of people is in the frequency band up to 20 kHz, dolphins use a frequency of up to 200 kHz.

Scientists have already counted 186 different “whistles” in the “speech” of dolphins. They have approximately the same levels of organization of sounds as a person: six, that is, sound, syllable, word, phrase, paragraph, context, they have their own dialects.

In 2006, a team of British researchers from the University of St. Andrews conducted a series of experiments, the results of which suggest that dolphins are capable of assigning and recognizing names.

Communication with dolphins has a positive effect on the human body, especially on the child’s psyche. British experts came to this conclusion back in 1978. Since that time, the development of “dolphin therapy” began. It is now used to treat many physical and mental illness, including autism, and other ailments. Swimming with dolphins relieves chronic pain, improves immunity and even helps children develop speech.

An incredibly romantic fact from the “personal” life of dolphins - ethologists studying Amazon dolphins discovered that males give gifts to potential partners. So, what gift is waiting for a female dolphin to consider as a candidate for procreation? Of course, a bouquet of river algae!

India has become the 4th country to ban the keeping of dolphins in captivity. Previously, similar measures were taken by Costa Rica, Hungary and Chile. Indians call dolphins “a person or person of other origin than “homo sapiens.” Accordingly, the “person” must have its own rights, and its exploitation for commercial purposes is legally unacceptable. Scientists who analyze animal behavior (ethologists) say that it is very difficult to determine the line separating human intelligence and emotions from the nature of dolphins.

Dolphins not only have " vocabulary"up to 14,000 sound signals, which allows them to communicate with each other, but also have self-awareness, "social consciousness" and emotional empathy - a willingness to help newborns and the sick, pushing them to the surface of the water.

Dolphins are famous for their playful behavior and the fact that, for fun, they can blow air bubbles underwater in the form of a ring using their blowholes. These may be large clouds of bubbles, streams of bubbles, or individual bubbles. Some of them act as a kind of communication signals.

Within a school, dolphins form very close bonds. Scientists have noticed that dolphins care for sick, wounded and elderly relatives, and a female dolphin can help another female during a difficult birth. At this time, the dolphins nearby, protecting the female in labor, swim around her for protection.

Another proof of the high intelligence of dolphins is the fact that adults sometimes teach their young to use special tools for hunting. For example, they “dress” on their faces sea ​​sponges in order to avoid injury when hunting fish that can hide in bottom sediments of sand and sharp pebbles.

The oldest dolphin in captivity was named Nellie. She lived at Marineland (Florida) and died when she was 61 years old.

When dolphins hunt, they use interesting tactics to drive fish into a trap. They begin to circle around the school of fish, closing the ring, forcing the fish to form a tight ball. Then, one by one, the dolphins snatch the fish from the center of the school, preventing it from leaving.

Reproduction

The life of dolphins is in many ways similar to the life of toothed cetaceans. Like whales, dolphins give birth to their young in the water. At the moment of birth, the female raises her tail high above the water, the baby dolphin is born in the air and manages to inhale air before falling into the water.

For the first hours, the baby dolphin swims like a float, in a vertical position, slightly moving its front flippers: it has accumulated a sufficient supply of fat in the womb and its density is less than the density of water.

The female dolphin carries the calf for ten months. It is born half the length of its mother's body. Like a baby whale, when a baby dolphin sucks, its lips are replaced by a tongue rolled into a tube: it covers the mother’s nipple with it, and she splashes milk into his mouth. All this happens under water: the respiratory canal of cetaceans is separated from the esophagus, and a dolphin, like whales, can swallow food under water without fear of choking. Dolphins give birth to one calf every two years. Three years later he becomes an adult. Dolphins live up to 25-30 years.

The common dolphin, or common dolphin, is up to two meters long and weighs from forty to sixty kilograms. Most often found on the open sea. If the end of the bottlenose dolphin's head resembles the neck of a bottle, then the white sided dolphin has an elongated snout, reminiscent of a beak. The body is blue-black, white on the sides, which is why they call the white-sided dolphin.

This species of toothed cetacean has other names - short-beaked, blubber, tyrtak, sharp-faced, common dolphin. But despite all this, it is the most widespread species in the world's oceans. It lives in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the Sea of ​​Japan and the Baltic Sea, in the open water of northern latitudes, the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. It’s easier to name where it is not.

Its large population is found in the Black Sea. But far from the shores. Holidaymakers crowded onto the beach. They point their fingers animatedly at the oncoming waves. They make noise, take pictures, film something. Looking closely into the surf, you see, about thirty meters from the shore, seemingly sedate sea animals, either plunging into the water or emerging from it. These are bottlenose dolphins. They cruise along the coast in search of food. When they see a joint, they transform both externally and internally. They become fast-paced and passionate. Grabbed the fish sharp teeth, and she was gone - she disappeared into the mouth. And then again there was imposingness and some kind of sedateness in swimming.
Whiteside is not like that. You almost never see it off the coast. Her element is the open sea. If you bought a ticket for one of our sea vessels, which regularly approach the piers to take you, for example, to the dolphinarium on Bolshoi Utrish or take you on an hour-long ride through the waves - here you will certainly encounter white sided whales. The ship moved a decent distance from the beaches, picked up speed, and suddenly a cheerful school of dolphins appeared in front of its bow. Beautiful, slender, fast, streamlined, somewhat similar in shape to a spindle, they look at you and people with funny, intelligent eyes and seem to ask: “Well, who’s who…” You can’t keep up with them. And so they will accompany you all the way to Big Utrish, their white sides sparkling, which is why they are nicknamed “squirrels”.

But they can only entertain you at sea at a speed of forty to fifty kilometers per hour. But in dolphinariums, there you go. Whitetails cannot stand captivity; they prefer freedom. That’s why bottlenose dolphins mostly perform in dolphinariums.

Let's talk a little more about white-sided beetles - since this is their most common species in our country. The length of animals from the tip of the tail to the tip of the snout is on average from one and a half to almost two meters. Although larger individuals are not excluded. They live in the world for twenty to thirty years. Their teeth are shorter, but sharper than those of bottlenose dolphins. About one hundred and twenty pieces. Males are larger than females. Mating games fall in the spring and summer. The cubs are born in water after ten or more months and are fed by their mothers. nutritious milk up to four months, and then get food yourself. Their usual food is anchovy and sprat, although they do not disdain larger schooling fish and mollusks. They can dive to more than seventy meters. They are very attentive to old relatives. They can lift them with their united efforts to the surface of the water so that they can breathe air. Sharks and killer whales will get it from them if they suddenly decide to attack their young. People are perceived as their fellow human beings. I wouldn't mind playing with them in open water. However, it is better not to contact them. In sympathy for you, they can hit you in the side with a sharp snout so painfully that it doesn’t seem like much, although they had no intention of offending you. So it is preferable to admire the white sided from the deck of a yacht or ship and from there listen to their “speech”, reminiscent of the squeaking of mice or the grinding of rusty door hinges. Having acquired offspring, they live in families. But in winter they gather in large flocks of up to hundreds or more individuals. The vision of white-sided dolphins is weaker than that of bottlenose dolphins, but they have excellent hearing. Especially in water. They can hear the school of anchovy at a considerable distance from themselves. And there will be a merry hunt...They were hunted too. Because of fat, loaded with vitamins, skins that don’t need any water. They were exterminated by the thousands in all the coastal countries of the Black Sea. Now they have practically left them alone, which is why their population is growing.

Dolphins are marine mammals animals that belong to the suborder of toothed whales. They are found in seas and oceans, as well as rivers that have access to the sea. They usually feed on crustaceans, mollusks, fish, and some do not disdain sea ​​turtles and birds.

Where do dolphins live?

The dolphin's habitat is exclusively water bodies. The dolphin lives in almost all places on our planet, with the exception of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Dolphins live in the sea, in the ocean, as well as in large freshwater rivers (Amazon river dolphin). These mammals love space and move freely over long distances.

Description

The length of dolphins ranges from one and a half to ten meters. The smallest dolphin in the world is Maui, which lives near New Zealand: the length of the female does not exceed 1.7 meters. Large inhabitant depths of the sea The white-faced dolphin is considered to be about three meters long. The largest representative is the killer whale: males reach ten meters in length.

It is worth noting that males are usually ten to twenty centimeters longer than females (the exception is killer whale dolphins - here the difference is about two meters). They weigh on average from one hundred and fifty to three hundred kilograms, and killer whales weigh about a ton.

The backs of sea dolphins can be gray, blue, dark brown, black and even pink (albinos). The front part of the head can be either plain or white (for example, the white-faced dolphin has a beak and the front part of the forehead white).

In some species, the front mouth is rounded and there is no beak-shaped mouth. In others, small ones, the head ends in an elongated mouth in the shape of a flattened “beak”, and the mouth is shaped in such a way that it seems to people watching them that they are always smiling, and therefore they often have an irresistible desire to swim with dolphins. At the same time, the impression is not spoiled even by the huge number of teeth of the same cone shape - dolphins have about two hundred of them.

Thanks to their elongated body and smooth, elastic skin, these animals hardly feel the resistance of the water while moving. Thanks to this, they are able to move very quickly ( average speed a dolphin's speed is 40 km/h), dive to a depth of about one hundred meters, jump out of the water nine meters high and five meters long.

One more unique feature of these marine mammals is that almost all species of dolphins (with the exception of the Amazon river dolphin and several other species) see well both underwater and above the surface. They have this ability due to the structure of the retina, one part of which is responsible for the image in the water, the other - above its surface.

Since whales and dolphins are relatives, like all representatives of cetaceans, they are quite capable of staying under water for a long period. But they still need oxygen, so they constantly float to the surface, showing their blue muzzle and replenishing air reserves through the blowhole, which closes under water. Even during sleep, the animal is fifty centimeters from the surface and, without waking up, swims out every half a minute.

Dolphin species

There are 17 genera in the dolphin family. Most interesting varieties dolphins:

• White-bellied dolphin (black dolphin, Chilean dolphin) (lat. Cephalorhynchus eutropia) lives exclusively on the coast of Chile. An animal with rather modest dimensions - the length of the stocky and rather thick body of this cetacean does not exceed 170 cm. The back and sides of the white-bellied dolphin have gray, while the throat, belly area and parts of the flippers adjacent to the body are completely white. The flippers and dorsal fin of the white-bellied dolphin are smaller than those of other dolphin species. This type close to extinction, protected by Chilean authorities.

• Common dolphin (common dolphin) (lat. Delphinus delphis). The length of the sea animal often reaches 2.4 meters, the weight of the dolphin varies between 60-80 kilograms. In the area of ​​the back, the common dolphin is colored dark blue or almost black, the belly is white, and along the light sides there is a spectacular stripe of a yellowish-gray hue. This species of dolphin lives in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and feels at ease in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Common dolphin can be found on east coast South America, along the coast of New Zealand and South Africa, in the seas of Japan and Korea.

• White-faced dolphin (lat. Lagenorhynchus albirostris) – a large representative of cetaceans with a body length reaching 3 meters and weighing up to 275 kg. Distinctive feature The white-faced dolphin has a very light, sometimes snow-white muzzle. The habitat of this mammal includes the waters of the North Atlantic, the coast of Portugal and Turkey. The dolphin feeds on fish such as capelin, navaga, flounder, herring, cod, whiting, as well as mollusks and crustaceans.

• Large-toothed dolphin (lat. Steno bredanensis). The body length of this marine mammal is 2-2.6 meters, weight varies from 90 to 155 kg. Height dorsal fin is 18-28 cm. The color of the dolphin is dominated by gray, with whitish spots scattered throughout it. This species of dolphin is common off the coast of Brazil, in the Gulf of Mexico and California, and lives in warm waters Caribbean and Red Seas.

• Bottlenose dolphin (large dolphin or bottlenose dolphin) (lat. Tursiops truncatus). The length of the animal can vary from 2.3 to 3.6 meters, and weight from 150 to 300 kg. The body color of the bottlenose dolphin depends on its habitat, but generally the species is dark brown. top part body and greyish-white belly. Sometimes a faint pattern in the form of fuzzy stripes or spots is observed on the sides. The bottlenose dolphin lives in the Mediterranean, Red, Baltic and Black Seas, and is often found in the Pacific Ocean along the coasts of Japan, Argentina and New Zealand.

• Broad-snouted dolphin (beakless dolphin) (lat. Peponocephala electra) distributed in the waters of countries with tropical climate, especially massive populations live along the coast Hawaiian Islands. The torpedo-shaped, light gray body of the animal is crowned with a cone-shaped head of dark gray color. The length of the mammal often reaches 3 meters, and an adult weighs more than 200 kg.

• Chinese dolphin (lat. Sousa chinensis). This member of the genus of humpback dolphins lives in the waters along the coast of Southeast Asia, but migrates during the breeding season, so it is found in bays, quiet sea lagoons and even rivers washing Australia and the countries of South Africa. The length of the animal can be 2-3.5 meters with a weight of 150-230 kg. Surprisingly, although dolphin calves are born completely black, as they grow, the body color changes first to light gray, with slightly pinkish spots, and adults become almost white. The Chinese dolphin feeds on fish and shellfish.

• Irrawaddy dolphin (lat. Orcaella brevirostris). A distinctive feature of this type of dolphin is complete absence a beak on the muzzle and a flexible neck, which gained mobility due to several skin and muscle folds behind the head. The body color of the Irrawaddy dolphin can be either light gray with a blue tint or dark gray, while the belly of the animal is always a shade lighter. This aquatic mammal reaches 1.5-2.8 meters in length and weighs 115-145 kg. The dolphin's habitat covers the waters of the warm Indian Ocean, from the Bay of Bengal to the northern coast of Australia.

• Cruciform dolphin (lat. Lagenorhynchus cruciger) lives exclusively in Antarctic and subantarctic waters. The color of the dolphin is black and white, less often – dark gray. The striking white marking covers the sides of the mammal and extends to its muzzle, framing the eye area. The second mark runs longitudinally along the back of the body, intersecting with the first and forming a pattern in the form hourglass. An adult cross-shaped dolphin has a body length of about 2 meters in length, the weight of the dolphin varies between 90-120 kilograms.

• Killer whale (killer whale) (lat. Orcinus orca)- a mammal that belongs to the dolphin family, the genus of killer whale. The male killer whale is about 10 meters long and weighs around 8 tons. Females are smaller: their length reaches 8.7 meters. The pectoral flippers of killer whales have a wide oval shape. The teeth of killer whales are quite long - up to 13 cm in length. The sides and back of the mammal are black, the throat is white, and on the belly there is white stripe. There are white spots above the eyes. Sometimes completely black or white individuals are found in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The killer whale lives in all waters of the world's oceans, except Sea of ​​Azov, Black Sea, Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea.

The mystery of the speed of dolphins

In 1936, British zoologist Sir James Gray drew attention to the enormous speed (up to 37 km/h, according to his data) that dolphins can develop. Having made the necessary calculations, Gray showed that, according to the laws of hydrodynamics, it is impossible to achieve such a high speed with the muscle strength that dolphins possess. This mystery is called Gray's Paradox. The search for a solution to this problem still continues to one degree or another. IN different times various teams of researchers have put forward various explanations phenomenal speed of dolphins, but there is no clear and universally accepted answer to this question yet.

Regeneration ability

Dolphins have an incredible ability to heal themselves. In the event of any injury, even large size– they do not bleed or die from infection, as one might expect. Instead, their flesh begins to regenerate at a rapid pace, so that after just a few weeks, deep wound, for example, from shark teeth, there are almost no visible scars. Interestingly, the behavior of injured animals is practically no different from normal. This gives reason to believe that nervous system Dolphins are capable of blocking pain in critical situations.

Why don't dolphins freeze underwater?

Finally, let's find out why dolphins, being warm-blooded, do not freeze in the water. Their body temperature is 36.6 degrees. IN northern seas Animals need to stay warm. Water, which conducts heat up to twenty-five times more efficiently than air, allows you to freeze much faster than in air.

Why do dolphins perform such miracles?! This is due to a large layer of fat under the skin. They can control their blood circulation and metabolism. This makes it possible to support normal temperature bodies, as Wikipedia says.

How do dolphins breathe?

Whales and dolphins are related and can stay underwater for a long time without surfacing. The blowhole is closed during such periods. But, like other cetaceans, dolphins still need air underwater and periodically float to the surface to breathe.

How do dolphins sleep?

Dolphins also have another interesting physiological feature: They never sleep. Animals hang in the water column, periodically rising to the surface to breathe. During rest, they are able to turn off alternately the left and right hemispheres of the brain, that is, only one half of the dolphin’s brain sleeps, and the other half is awake.

How are they born?

Do you know how dolphins are born? The bottlenose dolphin carries the baby for about a year. It is born tail first. The cub's eyes are immediately open, and its senses are extremely developed. Moreover, a barely born dolphin already has sufficient coordination to follow in the footsteps of its mother, who helps to rise to the surface. Then comes the baby dolphin's first breath in his life. Such a trusting relationship between a child dolphin and its mother lasts approximately from 3 to 8 years.

Dolphins and people: who is smarter?

When dolphins began to be studied and trained in the middle of the last century, the first results of this work seemed so unusual, and even surprising (they talked about it a lot, wrote about it and made films), that gradually a legend about the unusual high intelligence dolphins; one could often hear that they were no more stupid than a person, only their minds were different.

The brain of an adult dolphin weighs about 1,700 grams, while that of a human weighs 1,400. A dolphin has twice as many convolutions in the cerebral cortex. At the same time, there are relatively few neurons per cubic millimeter of its substance (less than in the brain of primates).

The results of studies on the behavior and physiology of the brain of dolphins are very contradictory. Some put their ability to learn at about the level of a dog and show that dolphins are very far from chimpanzees. Research on the communication methods of dolphins, on the contrary, leads to the conclusion that we have not yet come close to understanding this form of life in natural conditions and it is simply incorrect to compare the level of intelligence of dolphins and chimpanzees.

One property of the dolphin brain is completely unique: it never really sleeps. They sleep - alternately - then left, then right hemisphere brain The dolphin needs to come to the surface from time to time to breathe. At night, the waking halves of the brain are responsible for this, in turn.

Dolphin communication

The language of dolphins can be divided into 2 groups:

• Sign language(body language) – various poses, jumps, turns, various ways swimming, signs given by the tail, head, fins.
• Language of sounds(the language itself) – sound signaling, expressed in the form of sound pulses and ultrasound. Examples of such sounds include: chirping, buzzing, squealing, grinding, clicking, smacking, squeaking, popping, squeaking, roaring, screaming, screaming, croaking, and whistling.

The most expressive whistles are those that dolphins have. 32 types. Each of them can denote a specific phrase (signals of pain, anxiety, greetings and a calling cry “come to me,” etc.). Scientists studied dolphin whistles using the Zipf method and obtained the same slope coefficient as human languages, that is carrying information. Recently, about 180 communication signs, which are trying to systematize, compiling a dictionary of communication between these mammals. However, despite numerous studies, it has not been possible to completely decipher the language of dolphins.

Dolphins' names

Each dolphin has its own name, to which it responds when its relatives address it. This conclusion was reached by American scientists, the results of which were published in the Bulletin of the US National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Moreover, experts who conducted their experiments in the American state of Florida found that the name is given to the dolphin at birth and is a characteristic whistle.

Scientists caught 14 light gray bottlenose dolphins in the wild with nets and recorded various sounds, published by these mammals in the process of their communication with each other. Then, using a computer, “names” were extracted from the records. When the name was “played” for the flock, a specific individual responded to it. The dolphin's "name" is a characteristic whistle, average duration which is 0.9 seconds

Official recognition

The Indian government recently removed dolphins from the list of animals and gave them the status of "non-human persons." Thus, India became the first country to recognize the intelligence and self-awareness of dolphins. In this regard, the Ministry environment and Indian Forestry has banned any performances using dolphins and called for their special rights to be respected.

1. There are 43 species of dolphins. 38 of them are marine, the rest are river inhabitants.
2. It turns out that in ancient times dolphins were land animals, and only later did they adapt to life in the water. Their fins resemble legs. So our sea friends may once have been land wolves.
3. Images of dolphins were carved in the desert city of Petra, Jordan. Petra was founded back in 312 BC. This gives reason to consider dolphins as one of the most ancient animals.
4. Dolphins are the only animals whose babies are born tail first. Otherwise, the cub may drown.
5. A dolphin can drown if a tablespoon of water gets into its lungs. For comparison, a person needs two tablespoons to choke.
6. Dolphins breathe through an adapted nose, which is located at the top of their head.
7. Dolphins can see using sound; they send signals that travel long distances and are reflected from objects. This allows animals to judge the distance to an object, its shape, density and texture.
8. Dolphins are superior to bats with their sonar capabilities.
9. During sleep, dolphins float on the surface of the water to be able to breathe. As a control, one half of the animal's brain is always awake.
10. "The Cove" won an Academy Award as documentary about the treatment of dolphins in Japan. The film explores the topic of cruelty to dolphins and the high risk of mercury poisoning when eating dolphins.
11. It is assumed that hundreds of years ago dolphins did not have such an ability to echolocate. This is a quality acquired with evolution.
12. Dolphins do not use their 100 teeth to chew food. With their help, they catch fish, which they swallow whole. Dolphins don't even have chewing muscles!
13. IN Ancient Greece Dolphins were called sacred fish. Killing a dolphin was considered sacrilege.
14. Scientists have found that dolphins give themselves names. Each individual has its own personal whistle.
15. Breathing in these animals is not an automatic process, like in humans. The dolphin's brain signals when to breathe.

Common dolphin , also called Belobochka, is a skilled swimmer who can reach speeds of up to 45 km/h. Dolphins- These are friendly pack animals.
DIMENSIONS
Body length: 1.7-2.6 m.
Weight: 80-120 kg.
Number of teeth: 160-200 pieces.

REPRODUCTION
Puberty: from 4-5 years.
Mating season: in the northern part Atlantic Ocean- October-December, most of the cubs are born in September and October.
Pregnancy: 10-11 months.
Number of cubs: 1.

LIFESTYLE
Habits: stay in flocks.
Food: Mainly herring and sardines, as well as fish living in coastal waters.
Sounds: squeaks, whistles, sounds reminiscent of creaking.
Life expectancy: up to 25 years.

The common dolphin has a smooth, spindle-shaped body. The back is usually black with a brown or purple pattern, the belly is white, but the color can vary quite a lot. Every few minutes the dolphin rises to the surface to fill its lungs atmospheric air.
REPRODUCTION. Dolphins are not a monogamous species, so they look for new partners every mating season. But dolphins are quite characterized by kindred feelings. They support each other in difficult situations, for example, females help other females during childbirth. 10-11 months after mating, the female gives birth to one baby. The baby is born tail first, and the female needs to immediately bring it to the surface so that the baby’s lungs are filled with air. She is usually helped by 1-2 females. The “midwives” push the woman in labor to the surface and look to see if there is a shark swimming nearby. The female feeds the cub with milk. The baby suckles from its mother quickly, with frequent breaks, emerging every few minutes to replenish the air reserves in its lungs. Newborns swim quickly, but during the first two weeks they stay close to their mother.
LIFESTYLE. Ordinary dolphins, or, as they are also called, common dolphins, are very sociable and friendly creatures. They are more often kept in families consisting of several generations of the same female. However, males and nursing mothers with young animals, as well as pregnant females, sometimes form separate temporary flocks. IN mating season sexually mature females and males gather in common schools. Dolphins inhabiting the warm coastal waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres also appear in places where their relative, the bottlenose dolphin, lives.
The life of dolphins continues in search of food, hunting and playing. Dolphins communicate with each other in a special language, using wide range sounds. They breathe atmospheric air, so they often float to the surface to fill their lungs with it. Most species love games and fun. Dolphins are one of the funniest animals. Dolphins love to jump out of the water in groups vertically upward, i.e. "candle".
FOOD. The dolphin feeds mainly on sardines and herring. Since the dolphin is forced to regularly rise to the surface to fill its lungs with air, it often preys on pelagic fish that live in upper layers water, as well as shrimp and cephalopods. Following schools of herring, sardines, capelin, mackerel or mullet, dolphins swim to the coast North Africa. IN cold period When schools migrate to other areas or when they are caught, dolphins move out of the region.
Dolphins communicate with each other using a special language - a special set of sounds: whistles, squeaks and creaks. Dolphins' sense of smell is rather poorly developed, so during joint hunting they communicate using sound signals. In addition, ordinary dolphins have a well-developed echo location. Using ultrasonic waves, they find prey, determine its type, size, location, and the speed at which it moves.

Did you know?? An ordinary dolphin can stay underwater for no more than 3-4 minutes, while a bottlenose dolphin can dive for as long as 15 minutes.
With each breath, the air in the dolphin's lungs is renewed by about 90 percent. In most mammals, only 15 percent of the air volume is replaced during inhalation.
There are no sweat glands in the skin of a dolphin; it regulates body temperature with the help of fins: blood, flushed from the animals’ swimming, flows through large vessels penetrating through the layer of fat in the fins near the surface of the skin, thus giving off excess heat to cold water.

SPEED COMPARISON. The dolphin swims quickly, but there are even more agile swimmers - whales and sharks.
Orca: 55 km/h.
Herring shark: 45 km/h.
Californian sea lion: 40 km/h.
Atlantic salmon: 38 km/h.
PLACES OF RESIDENCE. Coastal waters tropical and temperate climatic zones, large populations living in the Black and Mediterranean seas. Dolphins, which feed on fish swimming in schools, constantly roam from place to place.
Saving. In the past, residents of the Black Sea region often hunted white sided whales. Nowadays, dolphins are dying from becoming entangled in large fishing nets.

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In temperate and tropical latitudes of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans such a representative of the dolphin family as the white-sided dolphin lives. It is also called the common dolphin. This species is also found in Indian Ocean, but it is relatively rare there. But in the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas he is ordinary. Swims into the Black and Red Seas and loves the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Sometimes it ends up in Norwegian waters and even swims to the Arctic. Prefers open waters, and it turns out to be near the shore only from time to time.

Description

The length of representatives of the species varies from 1.6 to 2.4 meters. Weight is 70-100 kg. Some individuals weigh up to 136 kg. Males are longer and heavier than females. The back color can be black or blue-brown. The belly is light. On the sides there is a stripe with heterogeneous colors. At the beginning of the body, its color can be light gray, yellow or golden, and at the end it is dirty gray. The color of the body greatly depends on the specific region of habitat. Young dolphins have paler colors than adults.

Reproduction and lifespan

Males and females reach sexual maturity at the age of 12-15 years. Pregnancy lasts 10-12 months. One cub is born with a body length of 70-90 cm and a weight of about 10 kg. The female immediately raises it to the surface of the water so that the baby takes its first breath. Milk feeding lasts about a year. At 3 years old, a young dolphin becomes independent. IN sea ​​elements Common dolphins live up to 35 years.

Behavior and nutrition

Representatives of the species live in large groups, which can number hundreds and even thousands of individuals. But such large groups are not a single whole. They consist of smaller groups with stable social ties. In these small groups, everyone knows each other and represents a single family.

Common dolphins swim quickly. They reach speeds of up to 60 km/h. Therefore, they often accompany high-speed ships. The diet is quite varied. It consists of many types of fish, squid and octopus. All this marine life is obtained at a depth of less than 200 meters. Fish include herring, sardines, anchovies, hake, and Atlantic mackerel. A dolphin eats about 10 kg of fish per day.

It should be said that different populations of common dolphins have different statuses. Thus, the Mediterranean population is characterized as endangered. It is currently protected by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. This convention also applies to other representatives of the species living in the Atlantic. In addition, countries are guided by the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans in the North-East Atlantic Ocean and the Northern Seas.

There is also a Memorandum on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans. They are used in Malaysian and West African waters. So in the 21st century, representatives of the species are protected legislative acts from all sides, and individual problems with numbers should soon disappear.