What do dolphins eat, what is their favorite treat? How dolphins raise their babies. How they are born.

Hello friends! Since you are reading this article, then you are interested in learning something new about dolphins. Today you have a great opportunity to get to know them better. The dolphin is a smart animal, they even heal people, as I wrote in.

Let's figure out who dolphins are and what they are. Like you, like me, they belong to the class of mammals. About eleven million years ago, the ancestors of dolphins decided to leave the water, setting off to explore the vastness of the earth. Looking around, they were horrified. That is why the dolphins had to return to the expanses of the water surface. These beauties have teeth, being warm-blooded, they feed their cubs with milk.

Habitat

Wikipedia says that they prefer seas and oceans as their habitat. There is practically no place where these mammals have not settled in our world. From the Red Sea to the northern reservoirs. Further - more: sometimes these animals choose rivers. The bottlenose species or the small bottlenose dolphin prefer tropical water.

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 trusting relationship in a child dolphin with its mother it lasts approximately from 3 to 8 years.

Breathtaking speed

I don’t know about you, but for me the following fact became a real revelation. Dolphins develop amazing speed. As for bottlenose dolphins, they develop from four to eleven kilometers per hour. The caudal fin, the strongest part of the body, helps in this. If there is such a need, the speed can reach up to 32 kilometers per hour! The body has an ideal shape that allows it to move freely in the water.

Dolphins do not face such a thing as resistance. The body of a dolphin has been covered with scars since childhood, because these beauties have a uniquely smooth skin that helps them swim in the depths of the water. Just admire, watch this video of how dolphins accompany the ship:

Breath of dolphins

Another interesting fact from the life of these animals is related to... breathing! They breathe air. Despite the lack of gills (unlike fish), they have lungs and a unique blowhole located on the upper part of the body. With the help of it, dolphins, like whales, make all kinds of sounds. Bottlenose dolphins can hold their breath for more than seven and a half minutes! But they can spend no more than a quarter of an hour under water - otherwise they are at risk.

Gastronomic preferences

Dolphins prefer to feast on different types fish and squid. It depends on the region in which the friend lives. For example, dolphins of the river family are real gourmets. They care what they eat. The teeth and jaws are not developed enough to make chewing movements. They swallow the fish whole.

Dolphins and people: who is smarter?

I was also very interested to know: is it a myth that dolphins are smarter than people? The bottlenose dolphin's brain is the same size as a human's. However, the elephant is four times more developed! the main role is given to the relationship between the brain and spinal cord. For example, for a dolphin it is forty to one, while for a person it is fifty to one. Cats have a ratio of five to one, but this does not mean that they are stupid.

As far as one can judge, the ratios between humans and dolphins are close. But these animals live in a completely different environment. It requires other abilities: hearing, vision and other factors, without which one cannot survive under water. Dolphins know how to heal people, in addition, read about it here.

Dolphin sizes

Are you wondering: is a dolphin a fish or...? Based on size, these comrades are much larger than fish. Dolphins can be quite large sizes. For example, the killer whale can be considered the largest of the family. Its length at birth is up to two and a half meters, amazing! Over time, the figure will reach six meters. But speaking of bottlenose dolphins, they are born barely a meter in length. It is rare that a bottlenose dolphin grows to exceed 2.5 meters.

What sounds do dolphins make?

Also, I wondered why dolphins make all sorts of sounds. I was curious to find the answer, which I am happy to share with you today. As mentioned above, the blowhole helps them “speak.” There is a whistle - for communication with each other, and sounds of a pulsating type, indicating emotional condition, like anger or excitement, and clicks to detect echolocation. That is, the direction. The animal world never ceases to amaze.

Dolphins know how to have fun!

Do you think it's true that dolphins like to play with each other? From time to time you have to watch how these animals jump out of the water and do something! Unimaginable acrobats. Swimming back and forth, playing with the waves, they make you hold your breath. There is a logical explanation for all this. By jumping out, the dolphins determine where the school of fish has passed. The games make up quite significant part the lives of these individuals.

They like to sort through pieces of coral, algae, communicate with their own kind, birds and even turtles. Dolphins are having fun while riding the waves! These are their games, friends. By the way, look at this funny video of a dolphin playing with a cat, my soul always warms up after watching it:

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.

And finally, I have a small request for you, I recently found this video below on the Internet, which tells and shows how dolphins live in dolphinariums, watch it and write in the comments what you think about this?

Dolphins are mammals that are related to toothed whales, breathe with lungs and feed their babies with milk. They live in sea waters and oceans, sometimes found in rivers with access to the sea.

A dolphin is considered a warm-blooded animal; its body temperature must always be within 36.6 degrees C. To reach this point, it must eat about 30 kg of food per day. Dolphins have more than 100 teeth, which do not take any part in chewing food. Animals swallow food whole.

Scientists have not yet fully learned the entire process of eating food, how these animals prepare it, and have not yet fully considered the question of what dolphins eat. Presumably, these intelligent animals created their own civilization, which is not yet possible to understand, but much is already known, which is described below.

What do dolphins eat from the first days of life?

A mother dolphin feeds her babies for the first time six hours after birth. The feeding process occurs shallow underwater. Since the baby does not have soft lips, he cannot suck on his own. Milk enters his mouth in a strong stream by injection. In the very first days of its life, a small dolphin receives mother's milk up to eight times within an hour, this lasts the whole day. Then the intervals between feedings gradually increase.

Dolphin milk is nutritious, containing about 33% fat and 7% protein. Water and lactose make up close to 58%. Eating such food, a small dolphin grows quickly, builds up a thick layer of fat, at one and a half years old begins to try fish for the first time and gradually begins to get its own food.

What do dolphins like to eat in the seas and oceans?

In their habitats, in the seas and ocean waters, dolphins try to be where the fish are. They are very picky when it comes to food, so they have to - they don’t eat, they prefer only a certain type of food.

It’s not worth talking about the sense of taste, because very little is known about it. But knowing the characteristics of the brain and cranial nerves, one can guess about some of the taste sensations of animals and what dolphins eat. After all, they prefer only a certain type of fish. Our scientists conducted experiments and proved that dolphins have taste buds on their tongues, which means they definitely have taste sensations.

The dolphin eats fish in large quantities. He eats a lot of it in a day. Fish is his favorite food. This includes almost all types sea ​​fish: horse mackerel and herring, mackerel, saury and hake, flounder, mullet, anchovy. In addition to the above, favorite delicacies are squid, shellfish and crustaceans.

The amount of food required by adult animals is estimated at 4-5% of body weight, for nursing mothers - about 8%. It is known that beluga whales need 25-30 kg of fish per day, while bottlenose dolphins need 10-15 kg of fish products per day.

Due to the fact that dolphins are considered hunters, when feeding in dolphinariums you need to make sure that the food (prey) can move. But in captivity they are accustomed to frozen products. The favorite food for dolphins in this habitat remains squid and fish.

Dolphins have a wide range of sounds. There are several dozen of them, they are carried far into the sea and thereby help animals communicate with each other. There are moans, squeaks, whistles, clicking, chirping... You might ask, what sound do dolphins make when they eat? While eating, a sound is made - meowing.

How do dolphins get food?

The food acquisition strategy of dolphins is varied. Most often, hunting occurs in the daytime, only when there is a shortage of fish, hunting is necessary at night. Not the entire flock participates in night fishing, but only some individuals, catching seabed are nocturnal.

While hunting in the open sea, a pod of dolphins tries to surround and compact it. Then they enter it one after another and get their fill of food. When food production occurs close to the coast, animals drive their trophy into shallow water, closer to land. On big fish They sometimes hunt alone, using their tail to throw prey over the water, catch it in their mouths, or drown it.

Dolphins are considered good hunters. They have a special structure of fins and skin, as well as a streamlined body shape. Thanks to these features, anaphiles can swim very quickly, not inferior to even the most nimble inhabitants of sea and ocean waters. Maximum speed- up to 40 km per hour, the diving depth of some species of dolphins is about 260 meters. Probably everyone knows their jumps; in the horizontal direction they are able to “fly” about 9 meters, in the vertical direction - about 5 meters.

The most amazing facts from the life of dolphins

An incredible but true romantic fact from the life of animals: scientists who studied dolphins saw how males presented gifts to their chosen ones in order to earn their favor. The bouquet was ordinary seaweed.

The dolphin's cerebral cortex has twice as many convolutions as that of humans.

Scientists have noticed that there are close connections between dolphins in a school. They treat the elderly and relatives with care, and do not leave the wounded and sick in trouble. A female dolphin comes to the aid of another female if difficulties arise during childbirth.

Newborn dolphins, unlike the cubs of other mammals, are very adapted to independent life from the first minutes after birth. The baby is born able to swim, see, hear, exchange sound information with its mother and even distinguish her from other dolphins in the school.

It is also interesting that even before the birth of a dolphin, the females gather in a separate group and help the pregnant mother in every possible way. Moreover, during childbirth, females surround the dolphin, creating a kind of protective circle.

Dolphins are highly developed creatures, their behavior is in many ways similar to that of humans, and in some cases they are even superior to humans. For example, in the first weeks of life, the baby dolphin obediently follows its mother. Scientists suggest that dolphins are characterized by some innate forms of behavior. Such abilities help the cub to survive in a hostile environment. Newborn dolphins have been observed to have such behavioral features as a special place near the mother: behind, slightly to the side of the dorsal fin, which provides the safest position for the newborn. If another female from the pod is swimming nearby, then the baby dolphin arranges itself so as to be protected on both sides by their fins. Another feature of the behavior of newborns is that the dolphin never lags behind the mother and does not swim away from her. Moreover, even if the mother swims very fast, the dolphin still adapts to her rhythm.

However, while females are trying in every possible way to protect their young offspring, males are not very friendly towards young dolphins. This is why newborn dolphins are susceptible to strict education. Any attempts to swim up to other adult dolphins are immediately stopped by the mother. There have even been cases of mothers punishing their naughty children in dolphinariums. Most often, the female pressed the calf to the bottom of the pool with her rostrum (the so-called nose of dolphins) and held it in this position for about a minute, after which she released it. This may sound quite cruel, but such behavior is very justified. After all, adult males can not only drive away an annoying baby, but also leave serious damage on the dolphin’s body, including bites.

As mentioned above, a baby dolphin never swims far from its mother, but there are times when a baby dolphin gets lost. In such situations, the baby swims closer to the surface of the water in the place where he was with his mother last time. He swims in circles high speed and whistles continuously. This way the mother finds him easily.

It is also interesting that after the birth of a dolphin, a female from the pod usually joins the mother and continuously helps her in caring for the newborn and protecting it.

Many scientists are still amazed at the intelligence of dolphins. As you can see, these animals not only have the ability to perfectly learn various tricks and acrobatic performances. Dolphins even have their own language and dialects, hierarchy in the school and even social relationships.

On this day, back in 1982, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) voted for a complete ban on commercial whaling, which came into force in 1986.

Today, LifeGuide has prepared the most Interesting Facts about these wonderful marine mammals.

There are many species of cetaceans, but there are 3 main classifications: ancient whales, baleen (or toothless) and toothed whales, which include dolphins.

1. The largest animal in the world is the Blue Whale. Its length can reach up to 33 meters and its weight exceeds 120 tons.

2. In one second, the whale inhales and exhales about two thousand liters air.

3. In all baleen whales, females are larger than males.

4. Only one heart is large blue whale weighs about a ton - it is the largest among animals existing in the world.

5. Whale eats from 150 to 230 kilograms of fish per day.

6. Whales, like people, feed their young with milk from their mammary glands, hence the name mammals.

7. A baby whale gains about 100 kg every day by drinking about 380 l milk per day.

8. Externally, whales and dolphins look like big fish, however, they breathe not with gills, but with lungs.

9. Cetaceans can stay in the water for up to 40 minutes, and sperm whales - up to 1.5 hours.

10. During exhalation, in large whales the air is pushed out with such force that the loud sound of the fountain can be heard even at a great distance in calm, calm weather.

11. Cetaceans have almost no sense of smell. The sense of touch, unlike the sense of smell, is very well developed. However, the most Main way transmission of information for whales is hearing. Toothed whales have especially acute hearing.

12. Whales sing. Yes, yes, the sounds through which they communicate are reminiscent of human singing in their melody. The shortest “aria” lasts 6 minutes, the longest - about 30 minutes.

13. Researchers suspect that dolphins can also use their “vocal abilities” not only for echolocation, but also to stun or paralyze prey during the hunt.

14. Sperm whales are considered quite dangerous whales. When wounded, they are capable of sinking an entire whaling ship.

15. Sperm whales’ teeth are most often found only on the lower jaw. Female sperm whales always have fewer teeth than males.

16. Sperm whales grow throughout their lives, usually males are almost twice as large as females.

17. Because whales, like dolphins, simply need to occasionally rise to the surface to breathe, only half of their brain can sleep at any given time.

18. In terms of body size and brain size, a dolphin has a much larger brain than a chimpanzee. The brain of an adult representative weighs about 1 kg 700 g, while in humans it weighs 1 kg 200 g. In addition, the dolphin has twice as many convolutions. This explains it all J.

19. According to the latest scientific data, dolphins have a huge lexicon– up to 14,000 sounds of various signals, and also have self-awareness and empathy to help people.

20. Dolphins distinguish each other by “names” that they have at birth. Experiments proved that the same dolphin responded to the recorded sound signaling the name.

21. Whales and dolphins are capable of playing with each other.

22. Dolphins, as a rule, do not live alone. They have a complex social structure, and a wide range of emotions, including a sense of humor.

23. Sharks, no matter how predatory they are, try to avoid the company of dolphins.

24. The only known albino humpback whale on the planet was spotted near Australia.

25. Dolphins, through simple communication and games, help children with cerebral palsy and autism recover. Dolphins perfectly understand the condition of patients with autism, and they manage to reach their consciousness. This treatment method is called dolphin therapy.

26. Mass suicides sometimes occur among dolphins. This is justified by the fact that dolphins sense the earth’s magnetic field well, and sometimes their “sensor” malfunctions and they go astray from their route and are thrown ashore.

27. There are fighting dolphins. They are used for military purposes and are trained to detect underwater mines, rescue sailors after their ship is destroyed, and even, according to unconfirmed reports, destroy submarines using the kamikaze method.

28. Scientists studying dolphins noticed fascinating fact: Male dolphins give their potential mates gifts in the form of “bouquets” of algae.

29. And finally, main enemy cetaceans are humans!

Photo: Teruhide Tomori

Dolphins have perfectly adapted to life in sea ​​water. They have a body perfectly designed for this with a compacted tail. They have 210 of them in their mouth; swallow food without chewing. Dolphins have lungs, but do not have gills like dolphins. Unfortunately, the dolphin does not know how to breathe automatically, so when the dolphin sleeps, one part of the brain is awake, and the other is resting with the dolphin. Speaking of the brain, its weight is almost the same as that of humans. They have a four chambered heart. These mammals distinguish tastes, that is, bitter, salty, sweet.

photo:chatallot

They spend their entire lives in sea water and never encounter fresh water. That's why you have to drink salt water, but their kidneys help them cope with this situation. Dolphins have much larger kidneys than terrestrial mammals because the kidneys constantly have to excrete a lot of salt.

Dolphins feed their young with milk. The birth process is interesting. The calf emerges tail first; after the head appears, the mother pushes the dolphin to the surface for its first breath. He lives with his mother until he is 2-3 years old.

photo: Domenico Savi

Communication is carried out using gestures, that is, moving the body or tail. In addition to gestures, they also communicate with sounds (whistles, clicking).

It has long been known that dolphins are very good-natured and curious. They often “communicate” with people by swimming towards them.

photo: Carlos Silvestre

Dolphins are very smart and hard-working, they easily interact with people and are easy to train. If you let a dolphin look in the mirror, he will understand that it is him. They have a very well developed sense of help; they will always help their own if they need it. When a female gives birth to a baby dolphin, the rest of the pod protects them from predators and helps the female if necessary.