Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin

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Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin

• Tursiops Truncatus
• By Lindsey Gonzales
• Seth Cunningham

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Theres no place like home!

• In the Atlantic Ocean, bottlenose dolphins are
  found from Nova Scotia and Norway to Patagonia
  and the tip of Southern Africa. They are the
  most abundant dolphin species along US from Cape
  Cod through the Gulf of Mexico.

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Survival of the Fittest How Dolphins Survive

• Dolphins are carnivorous and they are active
  predators.Their natural predators are sharks and
  occasionally killer whales.
• They migrate when resource supplies are low and
  when the climate changes.

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Survival continued

• Dolphins dive regularly to depths of 10 - 150
  ft., but the best trained can dive 1,795 ft.

• Can swim at burst speeds of up to 18-22 mph but
  on average swim 3-7 mph.
• Dolphins breath oxygen by surfacing 2 - 3 times a
  minute, but can hold their breath for 5 - 10
  minutes.

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Dinner Time !

• Dolphins eat fish and squid. Some types are
  mullet, sea trout, but theyre not picky. They
  eat almost any kind of fish.
• Dolphins eat approx. 4 to 5 of their body
  weight per day. An average Atlantic Bottlenose
  weighs 419 - 573 lbs, so that means they eat
  20.95 - 28.65 lbs. of food every day!

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Dinner Time continued

• Dolphins cooperate with each other when its time
  to hunt. Dolphin pods herd large schools of fish
  into small dense masses and then slap the masses
  with their tail flukes. It then stuns the fish
  and the dolphins feast.
• Dolphins swallow their food whole.

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Awe, how cute!Dolphin Babies

• Dolphins reproduce sexually.
• Female dolphins are pregnant for about 12 months.
• A dolphin can calve ever 2 years but generally
  calves every tree years.

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Dolphin babies continued...

• A mother dolphin is very protective of her child
  and usually only lets the assisting dolphin near
  the baby.
• A baby dolphin nurses for up to 18 months.

• Baby dolphins learn everything from their mom.
• Within a few days of birth, a baby calf can
  vocalize.

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Your getting so big!

• A baby dolphin is about 42-52 in. long
  and weighs 44lb.
• Adult dolphins are about 8.2- 8.9 ft. long and
  weigh between 419- 573 lb.

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Long live the dolphins!

• A dolphins average life span is probably 20 years
  or less.
• Bottlenose dolphins have lived as long as 48
  years.

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Endangered Species?

• Bottlenose dolphins are NOT endangered!
• In the Gulf of Mexico, there is estimated to be
  at least 67,000.
• In the western North Atlantic, the bottlenose
  population is estimated at about 11,700.

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Works Cited

• Web site www.seaworld.org/bottlenose_dolphin/habd
  isdol.html
• Encyclopedia The New Book of Knowledge
  Book D Volume 4
• Book Marine Biology Second
  Edition Herbert H. Webber/ Harold V. Thurman