Dolphins are the most attractive sea creatures. When we are alone traveling through ship in the midst of ocean, they are always there running ahead of our ship as if trying to tell they can swim faster than our ship.
Dolphins are not fish, they are mammals. They are warm blooded like man and give birth to one baby called a calf at a time. At birth a bottlenose dolphin calf is about 90-130 cm long and grows to approx. 4 mts. They live up to 40 years. They are highly sociable animals. They are always found in group playing with each other and communicating with each other, thereby producing lovely sound.
Dolphins use their powerful tail flukes in an up and down fashion to move through the water. They also use their tail while hunting, hitting a fleeing fish up into the air, stunning it, and then scooping the fish up when it falls back into the water. They slap their tail rapidly when they get annoyed or when they want to indicate the sign of danger to alert other dolphins. Their teeth are interlocking rows of conical pegs, suitable for holding slippery fish. They eat their fish whole starting with head first. When they go wild they keep their mouth open and sometimes keep their nodding to express their aggression. Greater aggression is shown by violent jaw clapping. Dolphins breathe through their blowhole located at the top of their head. A dolphin may empty and refill its lungs in less than a fifth of a second. As the dolphin breathes, the air leaves the blowhole at speeds of over 100mph. Complex nerve endings around the blowhole sense pressure changes so the dolphin knows exactly when the blowhole is in or nearing the air and can be opened.
The dolphin's eyes produce a special slippery secretion which protects the eyes from foreign objects and water friction. While sleeping, it shuts down only half of its brain, as its breathing is under voluntary control. Dolphins take short cat-naps, floating just below the surface, and then slowly rising to breathe. Often dolphins are very active during night time, for some this is their main feeding time. The dolphin's skin is completely smooth allowing the dolphin to move easily through the water, and also reduce heat loss. Their skin may bear rake marks from other dolphin’s teeth during play or mating, and can easily become badly sun burnt if they strand. Their bodies are very streamlined so they may swim at high speeds through the water, and an example of this is their ears. Dolphin's ears are barely noticeable marked only by a small hole just behind the eye. In a bottlenose dolphin the ear is about 5-6 cms behind the eye and only 2-3 mm in diameter. Dolphins are able to dive to great depths, and also leap to great heights. They may leap to avoid predators or to show how powerful they are to females at mating time. Bottlenose dolphins can dive to depths of over 1,640 ft (500m). Dolphins carry their young inside their womb and gestation is about 12 months for a bottlenose. The baby emerges tail first, and will suckle from its mother for up to 4 years. The baby will however stay with its mother for between 3-6 years, during which time it learns all about feeding techniques, social interaction and group foraging. Females stay within the family pod with their mother and sisters, though males leave and form associations with other males. They interact with dolphins from other pods from time to time. If any dolphin is drowning, other dolphins will come to its help, supporting it with their bodies so its blowhole is above the water allowing it to breathe.
Dolphin’s are mainly hunt down by sharks and unfortunately man, through direct killing for food, netting, pollution, and fishing. Dolphins spend a large part of their day looking for food, or actually feeding. They may either hunt alone or together as a pod. They use their echolocation to locate fish by sending out a stream of pulses and clicks. When a baby is first born, some dolphin research suggests a mother dolphin will whistle to it constantly, imprinting her sound on the baby so it will recognize her, and the baby learns to develop its own signature whistle. It is thought that each dolphin has its own individual signature whistle, just like a name.
The awareness of saving it from getting extinct is now being recognized and suitable actions are being taken. Australia and several other countries it is now illegal to catch or import any more dolphins for captivity. Dolphins are gifted with power that makes us enthusiastic about them. They must be allowed to leave their life without human interruption.
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/7-25-2004-57066.asp
author by : http://www.buzzle.com/authors.asp?author=957
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