Dolphins are mammals that feed on milk. Interesting facts about dolphins
Dolphins are considered one of the smartest animals on the planet, as well as the most caring parents.
Female dolphins are distinguished by their caring nature, giving birth to one calf approximately once a year, they do not leave it during the period of childhood and adulthood. Dolphins feed, protect their children, teach them to adapt to the world around them and get food. First months marine mammals lives are interesting. This is how dolphins raise their babies.
Baby dolphin
The sizes of dolphin calves at birth vary. Some are born only 50-60 cm long, others can reach a third of their mother. When labor begins, the dolphin moves actively, often opening her mouth and arching her body. Seeing these manifestations, friends gather around, providing assistance and, if necessary, protecting.
As soon as the calf is born, it is rushed to the surface of the sea. There the lungs expand and fill fresh air. Since the baby, while in the mother’s womb, has accumulated a decent amount of fat, in the first hours he is between water and air, resembling a float. The baby dolphin moves in a vertical position, occasionally moving its front fins.
A baby dolphin remembers its mother by her voice. And this is not surprising, because as soon as the dolphin gives birth, she whistles loudly, amplifying her normal voice 10 times. It is difficult for the cub to confuse the mother with other adult females.
During the first months, the dolphin does not leave her baby, who, wanting to be fed, emits a shrill cry, similar to a human one.
Unlike baby sushi, a baby dolphin hardly sleeps during the first month. His mother is also awake with him, forced to vigilantly monitor and help her child. Newly born babies cannot hold their breath for a long time and need to rise to the surface every 3 minutes. Only in the second month of life do the dolphin calves fall into a short sleep. Adult sleep standards are gradually being achieved - dolphins sleep on average about 8 hours.
The cubs gain weight quite quickly - about a quarter of a kilogram per day. like this good correction ensures frequent feeding. Dolphins eating is a natural process; they cannot choke, because Airways separated from the esophagus.
The baby dolphin does not leave its mother throughout the first year. He circles in a small, two to three meter circle, the center of which is the dolphin. While raising, a parent can punish her restless child.
Until about one and a half years old, the cub feeds on its mother’s milk, eventually switching to fish. By playing and imitating close examples, baby dolphins learn to get food and communicate.
Only females do the rearing. Dolphins, forming a separate male clan, meet with representatives of the female community only during the Barque period.
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 in weight every day, 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, large whales the air is pushed out with such force that the loud sound of the fountain will be heard even on long 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 in certain moment 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 albino humpback whale known 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. Dolphins sometimes have mass suicides. 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!
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 my life little 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 about 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 only prefer certain type fish. Our scientists conducted experiments and proved that dolphins have taste buds on their tongues, which means they definitely have taste sensations.
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, bottlenose dolphins daily norm food is 10-15 kg of fish products.
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 lead night look life.
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 special structure fins and skin, as well as streamlined shape bodies. Thanks to such features, anaphiles can swim very quickly, not inferior to even the most nimble inhabitants of sea and ocean expanses of water. 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 young of other mammals, are very adapted to life from the first minutes after birth. independent life. 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, females gather in 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 beings, their behavior is in many ways similar to humans, and in some cases they even surpass 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 dorsal fin, which provides the newborn with the safest position. If another female from the pod is swimming nearby, 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.