Bottlenose Dolphin

Tursiops truncatus, commonly known as the Common Bottlenose Dolphin, is the most well-known species from the family Delphinidae.

Common bottlenose dolphins are the most familiar dolphins due to the wide exposure they receive in captivity in marine parks, dolphinarias, in movies, and television programs (for example Flipper).[3] T. truncatus are the largest species of the beaked dolphins.[4] They inhabit temperate and tropical oceans throughout the world, and are absent only from polar waters.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] The bottlenose dolphins previously known as T. truncatus, but recently the genus has been split into two, T. truncatus and T. aduncus[6] [7] Although this species has been traditionally called the Bottlenose Dolphin,[8] [9] many authors have used the name Common Bottlenose Dolphin for this species since a second bottlenose dolphins species, the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin, was described.[1] [10] [11] The Common Bottlenose Dolphins inhabit warm and temperate seas worldwide. Considerable genetic variation has been described among members of this species, even between neighboring populations, and so many experts believe that there may be multiple species included within Tursiops truncatus.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MSW3_7-1" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[8] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-princeton_9-1" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[10]

Description
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Common Bottlenose Dolphins are grey in color and may be between 2 and 4 metres(6.6 and 13 ft) long, and weigh between 150 and 650 kilograms (330 and 1,400 lb).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-acs_8-1" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[9] Males are generally larger and heavier than females. In most parts of the world the adult's length is between 2.5 and 3.5 metres (8.2 and 11 ft) with weight ranges between 200 and 500 kilograms (440 and 1,100 lb).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-princeton_9-2" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[10] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[12] Newborn Common Bottlenose Dolphins are between 0.8 and 1.4 meters long and weigh between 15 and 30 kilograms.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-princeton_9-3" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[10] The common bottlenose dolphins have a short and well-defined snout, that looks like an old-fashioned gin bottle, which is the source for the common name, Bottlenose Dolphin.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[13] Like all whales and dolphins, though, the snout is not a functional nose; rather, the functional nose is the blowhole on the top of their head. Their neck is more flexible than other dolphins' due to 5 of their 7 vertebrae not being fused together as is seen in other dolphin species.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[14]

Behavior
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Common Bottlenose Dolphins live in groups called pods that typically number about fifteen dolphins, but group size varies from solitary bottlenose dolphins up to groups of over 100 or even occasionally over 1000 animals.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-princeton_9-4" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[10] Their diet consists mainly of eels, squid, shrimp and wide variety of fishes.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-encyc_0-2" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[1] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-seaworld.org_4-1" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[5] They do not chew their food, instead swallowing it whole. Dolphin groups often work as a team to harvest schools of fish, but they also hunt individually. Dolphins search for prey primarily using echolocation, which is similar to sonar. They emit clicking sounds and listen for the return echo to determine the location and shape of nearby items, including potential prey.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Au_14-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[15] The Common Bottlenose Dolphins also use sound for communication. Sounds used for communication include squeaks and whistles emitted from the blowhole and sounds emitted through body language, such as leaping from the water and slapping their tails on the water. Their head contains an oily substance to protect the brain case and to act as an acoustic lens.

Distribution
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5em;">T. truncatus can be found in the warm and temperate tropical oceans worldwide.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[16] Some populations of the Common Bottlenose Dolphin live closer to the shore (inshore populations) and others live further out to sea (offshore populations). Generally, offshore populations are larger, darker, and have proportionally shorter fins and beaks. Offshore poulations can migrate up to 4,200 kilometres (2,600 mi) in a season, but inshore populations tend to move less. However, some inshore populations make long migrations in response to El Niño-Southern Oscillation events.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-princeton_9-5" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[10]

Intelligence
Main article: Cetacean intelligence <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5em;">T. truncatus have a bigger brain than humans.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[17] There have been numerous investigations of Common Bottlenose Dolphin intelligence, including tests of mimicry, use of artificial language, object categorization, and self-recognition.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[18] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[19] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-encyc4_19-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[20] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[21] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[22] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[23] This intelligence has driven considerable interaction with humans. The common bottlenose dolphins are popular in aquarium shows and television programs such as Flipper.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[24] They have also been trained for military uses such as locating sea mines or detecting and marking enemy divers, as for example in the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-USNMMP_24-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[25] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[26] In some areas they cooperate with local fishermen by driving fish toward the fishermen and eating the fish that escape the fishermen's nets.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">[27]

[edit]References

 * 1) ^ <sup style="line-height: 1em;">a <sup style="line-height: 1em;">b <sup style="line-height: 1em;">c Wells, R. and Scott, M. (2002). "Bottlenose Dolphins". In Perrin, W.; Wursig, B. and Thewissen, J.. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Academic Press. pp. 122–127. ISBN 0-12-551340-2.
 * 2) ^ Hammond, P.S., Bearzi, G., Bjørge, A., Forney, K., Karczmarski, L., Kasuya, T., Perrin, W.F., Scott, M.D., Wang, J.Y., Wells, R.S. & Wilson, B. (2008).Tursiops truncatus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 7 October 2008.
 * 3) ^ <sup style="line-height: 1em;">a <sup style="line-height: 1em;">b Leatherwood, S., & Reeves, R. (1990). The Bottlenose Dolphin. San Diego: Academic Press, Inc
 * 4) ^ <sup style="line-height: 1em;">a <sup style="line-height: 1em;">b Ballenger, L., & Lindsley, T. (2003). Tursiops truncatus. Retrieved January 17, 2009, from Animal Diversity Web:http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Tursiops_truncatus.htm
 * 5) ^ <sup style="line-height: 1em;">a <sup style="line-height: 1em;">b Anonymous. (2002) Bottlenose Dolphin. Retrieved January 17, 2009, from Sea World Web: http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Bottlenose/
 * 6) ^ <sup style="line-height: 1em;">a <sup style="line-height: 1em;">b Hammond, P., Bearzi, G., Bjørge, A., Forney, K., Karczmarski, L., Kasuya, T., et al. (2008). Tursiops truncatus. Retrieved January 17, 2009, from IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: http://www.iucnredlist.org
 * 7) ^ <sup style="line-height: 1em;">a <sup style="line-height: 1em;">b Klinowska, M. (1991). Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales of the World: The IUCN Red Data Book. Gland, Switzerland, U.K.: IUCN and Cambridge
 * 8) ^ <sup style="line-height: 1em;">a <sup style="line-height: 1em;">b Mead, James G.; Brownell, Robert L., Jr. (16 November 2005). "Order Cetacea (pp. 723-743)". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds.Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
 * 9) ^ <sup style="line-height: 1em;">a <sup style="line-height: 1em;">b American Cetacean Society Fact Sheet - Bottlenose Dolphin
 * 10) ^ <sup style="line-height: 1em;">a <sup style="line-height: 1em;">b <sup style="line-height: 1em;">c <sup style="line-height: 1em;">d <sup style="line-height: 1em;">e <sup style="line-height: 1em;">f Shirihai, H. and Jarrett, B. (2006). Whales Dolphins and Other Marine Mammals of the World. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. pp. 155–158.ISBN 0-691-12757-3.
 * 11) ^ Reeves, R.; Stewart, B.; Clapham, P.; Powell, J. (2002). National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World. New York: A.A. Knopf. pp. 362–365. ISBN 0-375-41141-0.
 * 12) ^ http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Tursiops_truncatus.html
 * 13) ^ Tursiops truncatus, Bottlenose Dolphin - MarineBio.org. Retrieved Thursday, February 12, 2009, from http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=33
 * 14) ^ Wells, R.S. (2006). American Cetacean Society Fact Sheet: Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Retrieved January 17, 2009, from American Vetacean Society Web: http://www.asconline.org
 * 15) ^ Au, Whitlow (1993). The Sonar of Dolphins. New York: Springer-Verlag.
 * 16) ^ Scott, M., & Chivers, S. (1990). Distribution and Herd Structure of Bottlenose Dolphins in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. In S. Leatherwood, & R. Reeves, The Bottlenose Dolphin (pp. 387-402). San Diego: Academic Press, Inc
 * 17) ^ url=http://viaclinica.com/article.php?pmc_id=1868071
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 * 20) ^ Herman, L. (2002). "Language Learning". In Perrin, W.; Wursig, B. and Thewissen, J.. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Academic Press. pp. 685–689.ISBN 0-12-551340-2.
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 * 26) ^ "Dolphins Deployed as Undersea Agents in Iraq". National Geographic. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
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