Sunday, 17 May 2015

DOLPHIN FACTS

Top Facts about Dolphins

There is no doubt that dolphins are one of the most interesting forms of aquatic life out there. They are easy to recognize and you likely already know they are very smart. Yet there are plenty of great facts about them that you may not know. That will all change though when you get done reading this!

The dolphin is the only mammal that gives birth with the tail first instead of the head.
Dolphins don’t smell very well.
Young dolphins will remain with their mother for a period of 2 or 3 years.
There are two stomachs for dolphins just like for cows. The first one stores the food for them and the second one is where digestion takes place.
A dolphin may be able to dive up to 1,000 feet.
The dorsal fin on every dolphin is very unique and it can be used to identify them from each other.
Dolphins can swim at a speed of up to 25 miles per hour for a long time. This is about 3 times faster than the fastest humans in the world.
The average lifespan of a dolphin is 17 years. However, some of them that have been observed in the wild lived about 50 years.
Most species of dolphins live in saltwater but some of them thrive in freshwater.
A dolphin needs to get air at different intervals. Some need air every 20 seconds but others only need it every 30 minutes.
A group of dolphins is called a pod.
The bonds of dolphins in a pod are very intense. They have been observed carrying for the sick, the elderly, and those that have been injured with great care.
Even though they are usually very mild tempered, dolphins can be aggressive.
They are able to see well in the water due to the retina gathering light in a unique way.
The brain of a dolphin is #2 is terms of size compared to its body size. It is only behind the human.
It is possible for a mature dolphin to eat up to 30 pounds of fish daily.
There are about 100 teeth in the mouth of a dolphin. They use the teeth to grab their prey but they don’t chew it. All food is swallowed whole.
Up to 20 feet in the air is the distance that a dolphin can leap.
The Killer Whale is the largest member of the dolphin family. They can be up to 30 feet in length.
The skin of the dolphin is very delicate and it can easily be damaged by contact with other surfaces.
The Boto is the largest of the dolphins that can live in freshwater. They can be up to 10 feet long.
Dolphins often use a hunting tactic of circling the fish in a school so that they make a tight ball. Then they will take turns going through the center of the ball to feed as they do so.
Only one side of the dolphin’s brain sleeps at a time. This allows them to be able to breathe and to be able to watch for threats even while they are resting.
Dolphins enjoy socializing and playing. They play with seaweed or with other members of the pod. Sometimes, they will tease other living creatures in the water.
Global warming continues to be a problem for dolphins as it has reduced their food supply significantly.
Dolphins can be migrational for food and to get to bodies of water that are the right temperatures for them. Not all pods of dolphins will migrate though if their needs are being met right where they are.
Dolphins are known to engage in a variety of different feeding methods in order to be successful.
Most of them involved cooperation and being in sync with other pod members. It is very rarely that they will try to get food on their own.
The smallest dolphins are about 4 feet long with the longest being 30 feet long. They can weigh from 90 pounds to more than 11 tons.
The fluke is the name for the tail on a dolphin.
Echolocation is a big part of overall communication for dolphins. It occurs through the melon in the head.
All dolphins have a blowhole at the top where they take in air when they come to the surface.
Almost all dolphins have no hair other than a few that they have at birth. Only the Boto River Dolphin has a small amount of hair that they will keep as an adult.
They have a fast healing process for their bodies even when they have deep wounds such as those that are the result of shark bites. Experts haven’t been able to determine how this is possible for dolphins when other mammals would hemorrhage.

However, some have been documented to live to the age of 50!

AMAZON RIVER DOLPHIN

Amazon River Dolphin Facts

Introduction

You will often hear the Amazon River Dolphin referred to as the Boto Dolphin. This is one of the river dolphins found in the world. Due to the mystifying appearance of it, many legends in the culture of the Amazon include them. Some of these stories suggest that the dolphins are really handsome men that will seduce young women that come to the water.

Description

The body shape of the Amazon River Dolphin is very unique and that makes it easy to tell them apart from other species. They have a body that is long and filled out. They have fins that are shaped like paddles with a ridge on their back instead of a dorsal fin. They also have a bulging forehead which is called the melon. The eyes are small and they have chubby looking cheeks. The beak is very long and they can have as many as 140 teeth.

The color of this dolphin ranges from a bluish gray color to white. They can also be pink which is very interesting indeed. They have flexible necks because not all of the vertebrae in their necks are fused. This gives them the ability to move their head in various directions. They are the largest of all the river dolphins. The males can be just over 8 feet with the females around 7 feet long. The males can weigh up to 400 pounds with the females around 330 pounds.

What is very interesting is that in spite of such a heavy body, they are able to move with ease and not use a great deal of energy to do so. They have very broad flukes that are triangular shaped. They don’t swim fast but they are efficient in their movements. They have lots of trees and other elements in their habitat to maneuver around and they have no trouble doing so.

Distribution

The Amazon River Dolphin lives around the basins where the Amazon River and Orinoco River drains. Both of these rivers are found in South America. They are known to be found around many areas including Columbia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, Ecuador, and Peru. They can live up to 1,865 miles from the shore!

They have an overall distribution that covers close to 7 million square kilometers. They do have limits in their environment including marine waters, rapids that are impossible for them to pass, waterfalls, and even some areas of these rivers that are simply too shallow for them to successful get through.

What is very interesting is that the Amazon River Dolphin can survive in plenty of different types of micro habitats. For example, they do well in the mouth of a river, in a lake, below waterfalls, in small channels, and around main rivers. As long as the water temperature is warm enough and they have food, they should be able to do just fine.

For this species of dolphin, one of the significant influences of where they will reside though is the amount of water in terms of how high it is. During various times of the year, the water levels will drop too low in certain areas which triggers migration for the Amazon River Dolphin.

Behavior

These dolphins may live in pods that only contain 2 members. Others are small pods with about 15 members. They aren’t as social as other species of dolphins so the larger groups aren’t often seen. They prefer to keep them at lower numbers. They form strong bonds within their pod and they seem to be the most active early in the morning as well as again later in the evening.

They don’t swim fast but they are still very playful as well as quite curious. They tend to get very close to the boats in the water to explore them.Sometimes, they will interact with other species of dolphins. They have been seen taking part in lob tailing, waving flippers, and rolling. They aren’t deep divers so they are frequently seen at the surface of the water. It is seldom that you will see them with the flukes out of the water.

They are very playful and they have been seen pulling at grass under the water, playing with logs, and even playing with other forms of aquatic life in the water such as turtles and fish. The flexibility of their bodies allows the Amazon River Dolphin to swim through some very tight areas. They can also swim upside down if they need to. Some experts believe this is to allow them better vision as their chubby cheeks could make seeing downward hard in the water when they are upright.

Feeding

Fish make up the majority of the feeding for the Amazon River Dolphin, and there are at least 50 types of fish they can dine on. They are highly dependent on the health of the fish populations for their own survival. They have been known to also consume crabs and turtles when their normal food supply isn’t enough. Almost all of their feeding efforts take place in the shallow areas of the water.

Since they live in much smaller groups, reliance on group feeding isn’t common with this dolphin. Instead, they tend to do their own hunting early in the morning and then again later at night. They consume approximately 2.5% of their own body weight daily in food. This is about half of the average body weight of consumption for other species of dolphins.

Part of their strategy to get food is to hang out around waterfalls and mouth areas of the river. This is where there are disruptions for the schools of fish and that makes them much easier for the Amazon River Dolphin to capture.

Reproduction

Females are ready to mate before males, around 6 to 10 years of age. Males are ready to mate between 7 and 12 years of age. It takes about 11 months for the young calves to be born after mating. The birthing time is usually in July as the water levels are decreasing and the fish are moving into the major water areas. The timeframe between births can be up to 5 years for the Amazon River Dolphin. They are known to be able to survive in the wild for up to 30 years.

Conservation Status and Threats

The Amazon River Dolphin continues to be threatened due to pollutants in the water. Not only do they make it very hard for the dolphins to survive, it also depletes the rivers of the food sources they need to get enough to eat. In some of these rivers, the implementation of hydroelectricity and irrigation have isolated the dolphins into segregated areas of habitat. They don’t have the ability to migrate when water levels are too low or when there isn’t enough food for survival in a given location.

In Bolivia and Brazil, these dolphins are fully protected by the law. There are some efforts on International levels in place to offer them the same protection in Venezuela, Peru, and Columbia. The fact that so many tourists come to see the pinkish colored dolphins is also a reason for some to take part in preserving them in order to keep people coming back to see them.

Sunday, 3 May 2015

Killer whales, also known as Orcas

Top Facts about Killer Whales

killer whale factsKiller whales, also known as Orcas (Orcinus orca) are fascinating creatures that attract a great deal of attention from marine biologists, as well as the general public.

Here are the top facts that make this cetacean so unique to the general public as well as to the scientists.

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.

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.
Killer Whales eat up to 5% of their body weight each day. This averages out to over 500 pounds of food”.
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.