Interesting facts about dolphins. Dolphins: the second intelligent creatures on earth! Man is not capable of this.

Dolphins are incredibly smart and friendly to humans, they have a cheerful disposition and are simply adorable animals. It is not without reason that these aquatic mammals deserve such a respectful attitude. Let's learn more about these amazing animals.

The word dolphin goes back to the Greek δελφίς (delphis), which in turn comes from the Indo-European root *gʷelbh- "womb", "womb", "womb". The name of the animal can be interpreted as "newborn baby" (perhaps because of the external resemblance to a baby or because the cry of a dolphin is similar to the cry of a child).

Dolphin - the only mammal, whose birth begins in literally from the tail, not from the head! Young dolphins stay with their mother for 2 or 3 years.

In nature, there are almost forty species of dolphins, their closest relatives are whales and sea ​​cows. Dolphins evolved relatively recently - about ten million years ago, during the Miocene. Most species of dolphins live in salt water, but there are also freshwater animals.

Adult dolphins reach sizes from 1.2 m in length and weight from 40 kg (river dolphin) to 9.5 m and 10 tons (killer whale). The brain is the largest organ in the dolphin's body. During sleep, a part of the brain is awake, allowing the dolphin to breathe in sleep so as not to drown! The life of a dolphin is directly dependent on access to oxygen.

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

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

Dolphins can swim at speeds up to 25 miles per hour for long periods of time. This is about 3 times faster than the fastest swimmers in the world.

The so-called. is associated with dolphins. "Grey's paradox". In the 1930s Englishman James Gray was surprised by the unusually high swimming speed of dolphins (37 km / h according to his measurements). Having produced necessary calculations, Gray showed that, according to the laws of hydrodynamics for bodies with unchanged surface properties, dolphins should have had several times greater muscle strength than was observed in them. Accordingly, he suggested that dolphins are able to control the streamlining of their body, maintaining a laminar flow at speeds for which it should already become turbulent. In the United States and Great Britain after the Second World War and 10 years later in the USSR, attempts began to prove or disprove this assumption. In the United States, they practically ceased from 1965-1966 to 1983, as erroneous conclusions were made on the basis of incorrect estimates that the "Grey's paradox" does not exist, and muscular energy alone is enough for dolphins to develop such speed. In the USSR, attempts continued in 1971-1973. the first experimental confirmation of Gray's conjecture appeared.

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

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

In the "speech" of dolphins, scientists have already counted 186 different "whistles". They have about the same levels of organization of sounds as a person: six, that is, a sound, a syllable, a word, a phrase, a paragraph, a 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. Now it is used to treat many physical and mental diseases, including autism, and other ailments. Swimming with dolphins relieves chronic pain, improves immunity and even helps children develop speech.

Dolphins are also used in pet therapy to treat people with ultrasonic sonar.

A dolphin and a pregnant woman off the coast of Ixtapa, Mexico. Ixtapa, MexicoPicture: CATERS

An absolutely unique feature of dolphins is that they can "look inside" a person, like an ultrasound device - for example, they quickly determine the pregnancy of a woman. The feeling of "new life" is often very emotionally exciting for dolphins, they react violently and joyfully to pregnant women, and, as a rule, pregnant women are not allowed to swim in enclosures (although this may be best time for communication) so as not to take away the attention of animals from other visitors, and to avoid an involuntary "emotional attack" on the unborn baby.

Incredibly romantic fact from the "private" life of dolphins - ethologists studying Amazon dolphins have discovered that males give gifts to potential mates. So, what gift is the female dolphin waiting for to consider her as a candidate for the continuation of offspring? Of course, a bouquet of river algae!

India has become the 4th country to ban the keeping of dolphins in captivity. Earlier similar measures were taken by Costa Rica, Hungary and Chile. The Indians call dolphins "a person or person of a different origin than "homo sapiens". Accordingly, the "person" must have its own rights, and its exploitation for commercial purposes is unacceptable by law. Animal behavioral scientists (ethologists) say it is very difficult to define the line that separates human intelligence and emotions from the nature of dolphins.

The United States and Russian law enforcement agencies have trained oceanic dolphins for military purposes. Fighting dolphins have been trained to detect underwater mines, rescue sailors after their ship is destroyed, and search and destroy submarines using kamikaze techniques.

A dolphin has twice as many convolutions in the cerebral cortex as a human.

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 voracious predators, feeding mainly on fish, mollusks, and crustaceans; sometimes they attack their relatives.

Dolphins are mostly social, found in all seas and even rise into rivers.

Dolphins are famous for their playful behavior and for the fact that for the sake of entertainment they can blow air bubbles in the form of a ring under water with the help of a blowhole. These can be large bubble clouds, bubble streams, or individual bubbles. Some of them act as a kind of communicative signals.

Within a pack, 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 with difficult childbirth. At this time, nearby dolphins, protecting the female in childbirth, swim around her for protection.

Along with humans and bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees), dolphins are the only animal species that can mate for pleasure.

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

Dolphin skin is very delicate and easily damaged by contact with other surfaces. That is why before petting a dolphin, it is necessary to remove all sharp objects, such as rings.

Dolphins have up to 100 teeth in their mouths, but they do not chew food with them, but only capture it. Dolphins swallow all their prey whole.

Dolphins can dive to depths of up to 305 meters, but they usually swim this deep only when hunting. Many bottlenose dolphins live almost in shallow water. In Sarasota Bay, Florida, dolphins spend considerable time at a depth of only 2 meters.

The oldest dolphin in captivity was named Nelly. She lived in the park marine mammals"Marineland" (Florida) and died when she was 61 years old.

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

Dolphins can rise up to 6 meters above the water when they jump out of the water.

Dolphins are not fish at all, as many believe, but small aquatic mammals belonging to the order Cetaceans. Dolphins are directly related to whales and killer whales (the latter are actually large dolphins). Highly distant relatives dolphins can be considered pinnipeds and terrestrial predators leading an aquatic lifestyle (sea otters). This group of animals is extensive and diverse and includes 50 species.

bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

Common features of all species of dolphins are a naked, streamlined body, flexible and muscular at the same time, highly modified limbs that have turned into fins, a small head with a pointed snout, and a dorsal fin, which most dolphins have. On the head of these animals, the transition between the frontal part and the nose is well expressed. The eyes are small and dolphins see poorly, because they do not use their eyesight to track down prey. They also lack tactile vibrissae and sense of smell. Dolphins do not have a nose as such in our understanding. The fact is that dolphins are so adapted to permanent living in water that their nostrils have merged into one breathing hole (breathing hole), which is located on ... the parietal part of the head. This allows animals to breathe when their body is almost completely submerged in water. In addition to the nose, dolphins also lack ears. But they have a rumor, it just works in an unusual way. In the absence of external auditory openings, the perception of sounds was taken over by the inner ear and air cushions in the frontal part of the brain, which act as a resonator. These animals have perfect echolocation! They catch the reflected sound wave and thus determine the location of the object. By the nature of sound vibrations, dolphins also determine the distance to the object and its character (density, structure, material from which it is made). It is no exaggeration to say that dolphins literally see the world through sounds and see it much better than other creatures! Dolphins themselves make sounds similar to crackling, clicking, clattering and even chirping. The sounds made by dolphins are extremely diverse and complex, they consist of many individual modulations and are used by animals not only for communication, but also for communication with the outside world. The teeth of dolphins are numerous (40-60 pieces), small and uniform. This structure of the dental system is due to the fact that dolphins only catch prey, but do not chew it. The body of dolphins is completely naked, devoid of even the slightest rudiments of wool. Moreover, the skin of these animals has a special structure that reduces the friction of water and improves the hydrodynamic properties of the body.

Common dolphin, or common dolphin (Delphinus delphis).

Since dolphins are very mobile and constantly move in the water for high speeds The outer layer of the skin is constantly wearing down. Therefore, the deep layers of the skin have a powerful supply of regenerating cells that are constantly dividing. During the day, the dolphin is replaced by 25 cell layers of the skin! We can say that these animals are in a state of continuous molting. Coloring in dolphins is of two types: monochromatic (gray, black, pink) and contrasting, when large areas of the body are painted in black and white.

Commerson's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) has a bright black and white coloration.

Dolphins live exclusively in water bodies, never leaving the water column. The range of these animals is very extensive and covers almost the entire Earth. Dolphins are absent only in the coldest Arctic and subantarctic waters. Basically, these mammals live in salt waters - the seas and oceans, but some species of dolphins (Chinese and Amazonian river dolphins) live in major rivers. Dolphins prefer open spaces, moving freely across the ocean, but sometimes they come close to the shore and even play in the surf. Another phenomenon associated with this is the so-called throwing of dolphins ashore. For a long time, cases of finding individual animals and even whole flocks of dolphins on the shore have been known. Discarded animals are always healthy, and often still alive. For what reason they end up on the shore, scientists are still arguing. It is impossible to blame dolphins for movement errors, because their echolocating abilities are perfectly developed. The notion that dolphins do this on purpose is untenable, since no animal is capable of suicide. It is most likely that dolphins end up on the shore because of the information "noise" - a large number sounds from ship engines, radio frequency beacons, etc. The dolphins' sophisticated sonar picks up this cacophony, but their brains are unable to filter out so many sound sources, and as a result, the animals see an erroneous "map of the area" and become stranded. This confirms that dolphins are more likely to die in the area of ​​busy shipping and generally close to human civilization.

A flock of common dolphins.

All species of dolphins are pack animals, their groups can number from 10 to 150 individuals. Their social relations are very developed. These are friendly animals that maintain peaceful relations with each other, there are no fights and fierce competition between them. But the pack has its own leaders, more experienced animals and young animals. Between themselves, they communicate with sounds of various tonality and duration, each member of the herd has its own individual voice. With various signals, dolphins inform each other about impending danger, the presence of food or the desire to play. Moreover, dolphins designate each category of objects with their own sound. For example, when a killer whale approaches ( dangerous predator) dolphins "speak" differently than when approaching a whale (just a neighbor), they can combine simple sounds into complex words and even sentences. It's nothing but speech! That is why dolphins are considered one of the most highly developed animals, putting their intelligence on a par with great apes.

A flock of bottlenose dolphins examines an underwater photographer with interest.

The mind of dolphins has another little-known side. In connection with high level development, these animals have a lot of free time, not busy looking for food. Dolphins use it to communicate, play and ... have sex. These animals have sexual intercourse regardless of the breeding season and the biological cycle of each member of the herd. Thus, sexual relations serve not only for procreation, but also for pleasure. Also, dolphins love to play “outdoor games”, as we would call them. They practice jumping out of the water in a forward direction, up or twisting around their axis like a corkscrew.

With movements of a strong tail, a dolphin is able to raise its body above the water, hold it for several seconds, and even move backwards at the same time (stand on the tail).

With a man, dolphins are related by one more little known fact. It turns out that despite the differences in physiology, dolphins can suffer from quite human diseases; in captivity, they have recorded cases of cirrhosis of the liver, pneumonia and brain cancer.

Dolphins feed exclusively on fish. They prefer small and medium fish - anchovies, sardines. Dolphin fishing techniques are unique. First, the herd scans the water column using echolocation; when a school of fish is found, the dolphins rapidly approach it. Along the way, they make sounds of a special frequency that cause panic in the fish. A fish school huddles together, and that's all the dolphins need. Approaching, they catch fish with common efforts, often while dolphins exhale air, the bubbles of which create a kind of barrier around the fish school. Thus, these hunters can catch a significant part of the fish school. Dolphins also have companions: gulls and boobies monitor the behavior of dolphins from a height and attack fish schools from the air during feeding.

A common dolphin is fishing with a shark (in the background). In this case, the shark does not pose a danger to the dolphin.

Dolphins breed all year round. They don't have special marriage rituals, but usually the leading male of the herd mates with the female. Mating occurs while moving, and the birth of a baby dolphin occurs on the go. Dolphin babies, like all cetaceans, are born tail first. This is due to the fact that the newborn is under water and for the first breath he must first rise to the surface. Dolphin cubs are born so well developed that from the very first seconds of life they independently swim after their mother. However, the mother and nearby members of the herd help the baby to rise to the surface, pushing him with their noses. The cub often suckles its mother, thanks to nutritious milk it grows quickly. Communicating with relatives, the cub learns from them the art of hunting and soon begins to participate in the life of the herd on an equal basis with adults.

The main enemies of dolphins are sharks and ... their own relatives. One of the most large species dolphins - killer whale - hunts for warm-blooded inhabitants of the seas. Smaller species often become its prey. Since ancient times, humans have also hunted dolphins. True, the extraction of dolphins has never been carried out on an industrial scale, because in addition to meat (not the best palatability) you can’t extract anything from the carcass of a dolphin. Therefore, dolphins were caught only locals northern countries or sailors on long voyages. Despite this, these animals are still being caught in some countries. Such a hunt looks cruel, because the meat of the caught dolphins is only fed to dogs and does not bring any economic benefit. Such actions are doubly absurd when you consider that many species of dolphins are endangered. These animals die in fishing nets, from oil spills, from wounds caused by ship propellers. At the same time, dolphins are often kept in water parks, where they undergo a complex training program and perform in entertainment shows.

Both adults and children love dolphins. These mammals seem to be incredibly intelligent, communication with them even has a therapeutic effect! Learn ten interesting facts about them.

There are over thirty species of dolphins

Dolphins are marine animals found all over the world. There are more than thirty types of them. All of them are predators, feeding on fish and squid, and sometimes even seals and other marine animals. Most species inhabit the ocean. But there are also five species that live in rivers. Interestingly, most likely they did not originate from a common ancestor, but developed in parallel. Some river dolphins are closer to ocean dolphins than others. river species. Studies have shown that river dolphins are descended from oceanic dolphins that moved to fresh water due to competition with other species.

Dolphins can be from a meter to ten meters long

The smallest dolphin of all lives on Maui - its length is about a meter. The largest are killer whales, also known as killer whales. This name is erroneous, because these are not whales, but a kind of dolphin.

The ancestors of dolphins began living in the water fifty-five million years ago.

Nature often hides amazing facts. The researchers managed to find out the incredible - dolphins are descended from land mammals that began to live in the ocean about fifty million years ago. It was so long ago that other species descended from those land creatures are giraffes and hippos. In the skeleton of dolphins, reduced bones that were once paws have been preserved. They are present in dolphins of all species. Interestingly, whales seem similar enough to dolphins, but they are completely different.

Killer whales are dolphins ten meters in size

Most amazing fact about dolphins is that they include killer whales. Orcas live all over the world from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Their features are so different from those of dolphins because the last common ancestor they had was eleven million years ago. Since then, killer whales have developed in their own way, different from other species. Some scientists distinguish from three to five subspecies of these creatures, which differ in external and some other features. However, it is possible that the differences are simply formed under the influence of the environment - in coastal waters, in the deep sea, or when migrating between the two.

Dolphins from the Amazon can turn their heads ninety degrees and have a goatee

During adaptation to underwater life, these creatures lost the wool that their ancestors had. But when dolphins are first born, they have it around their mouth. Then she disappears - unless it's about the Amazon dolphins. This species is distinguished by wool, which remains at the mouth for life. The fur helps them better navigate the dark waters of the jungle, making it easier for dolphins to find their prey. In addition, this species has special neck bones - Amazonian dolphin can turn its head ninety degrees.

Dolphins hear ten times better than humans.

Dolphins have incredibly keen senses that make them such excellent hunters. They have excellent eyesight, as well as incredibly sharp hearing. With the help of a variety of clicks and squeaks, they find their prey thanks to echolocation. They pick up all sounds, like a perfect radar, with a special organ located in the lower jaw. This is a chamber filled with fat that connects the jaw to the inner ear. All vibrations are transmitted through the jaw to the ear.

Dolphins only eat meat.

Dolphins seem to be the cutest creatures of all the inhabitants of the sea. Even killer whales seem cute to some. You can often see children's toys in the form of these predatory creatures. Don't be fooled - these are carnivores that feed exclusively on meat! They usually fish, but they can also eat other creatures, from squid to seals, and killer whales can even kill whales that are larger than them. There is not a single predator that would cope with the killer whale - this is the most severe inhabitant of the ocean. Even river species are exceptionally predatory. Humans are not usually of interest to dolphins, but there have been instances of killer whales eating their trainers while kept in zoos.

Dolphins gather in large shoals

These are very sociable animals. It is known that they can communicate with a variety of sounds. Each has its own whistle, by which others recognize it. They even have names! In addition, these mammals gather in large groups that not only hunt, but also simply live together. Groups of up to a thousand individuals are known.

Bottlenose dolphins teach each other how to use tools

In addition to a wide range of sounds, which some scientists compare to language, bottlenose dolphins can use tools. Given the presence of both language and the ability to use objects, we can say that this species of dolphins has a culture. Bottlenose dolphins live in Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are in a special way hunt fish among the sand and stones at the bottom of the ocean. In order not to damage their mouths on stones, dolphins loosen the sand with a sponge they hold in their teeth, thus frightening the fish. This tactic is passed down from bottlenose dolphin mother to cubs. Other species are able to use sticks and algae during mating games. Obviously, these are the most intellectually developed animals on the planet after humans.

Humans and dolphins fish together in Santa Catarina Lagoon

People have been able to cooperate with these mammals since the days of the Roman Empire. Fishermen can fish with them. Here's how it works: Dolphins round up a school of fish in a net. When a fish is caught, the fishermen share part of the catch with their colleagues. This technique is still used in Brazil, in the Santa Catarina lagoon. At naval forces The United States of America has a training program for these creatures. They can be trained for military operations. Mammals can find mines and save people drowning in the sea. They were used to participate in the war in the middle of the last century, although the exact data on this remains classified.