Humans are attracted to dolphins by their beauty and grace, by their jumping which resemble child’s playing and by their incredible capabilities. However, it is almost sure that what makes dolphins appealing to humans is their unparalleled intelligence in the animal world. Always, dolphins have been emphatic to humans and the stories of dolphins and humans go back to ancient Greece. Additionally, there are several stories about dolphins saving humans. It turns out that they are even intelligent enough to serve in the United States Navy—they have been doing so since 1960.

Dolphin Facts:

 Dolphins are mammals; this means that mother nurse their babies with milk;

 Dolphins can swim up to 260 meters below the surface of the ocean;

 Dolphins can stay up to 15 minutes under water, but they cannot breath under the water;

 Dolphins use a technique called echolocation to find food and navigate;

 Dolphins live in groups formed by 10 to 12 individuals;

 There are 36-41 different kinds of ocean dolphins and five species of river dolphins;

 The largest dolphin is the “killer whale” (also known as Orca);

 The most known dolphin is the bottlenose dolphin;

 Dolphins are warm-blooded;

 Dolphins communicate through sounds and whistles;

 Bottlenose dolphins eat several kinds of fish (including mullet, mackerel, herring, cod) and squid;

 The maximum age for bottlenose dolphins is between 40 and 50 years.

Another dolphin usually helps the mother to deliver the calf and to take care of it during the early years of life. Calves (young dolphins) stay with their mothers until they are 6 years old. During that time, mothers teach their calves the necessary skills to survive.

How do dolphins sleep? Dolphins have to be conscious to breath. This means that they cannot go into a full, deep sleep, because then they would suffocate. Dolphins have "solved" that by letting one half of their brain sleep at a time. Dolphins “sleep” about eight hours a day in this fashion.

Dolphins use several methods to get their food. Fish and squid are the main source of food to most dolphins and they have developed interesting cooperative methods to catch them. One method, called herding, consist of a group of dolphins surrounding a school of fish to concentrate them. After that, one or two take turns to come from the bottom and trap the largest amount of fish possible.

The second method is called corralling, which is performed by taking fish to shallow waters where they are easily captured. Some species are even more specialized or with unique methods to catch fish.

Dolphins are able to make a large range of different sounds using a special part of their anatomy called nasal air sacs. Such air sacs are located just behind their blowhole. Three different kinds of sound have been identified.

- The whistles, which are modulated in frequency and used usually for communication.

- The burst-pulsed sounds used also for communication.

- The clicks, which are used for echolocation. A burst of clicks is called a click train.

There is not a single scientific answer about why dolphins jump in the air. Some of the explanations include that dolphins jump in the air to save energy as it consumes less energy going traveling through the air than through the water. Dolphins jump to locate some other pod or to find food by looking above the water for signs of food like feeding birds or any other indication of food location. Dolphins jump to communicate to other dolphins or pods to hunt together of anything else. They may jump to get rid of parasites. Or they may simply jump out of the water for only for fun and entertainment!

Dolphins have a social structure which make dolphins swim and live together in small groups called, “pods or schools.” These structures of about 12 dolphins are specially designed for several purposes being one of the most important the protection of the pod. These groups make sharks, the only predators dolphins have. When threatened or attacked, dolphins will use their speed and agility to strongly hit predators.

Bottlenose Dolphins are the best known species of dolphins. They are popular as they have appeared in television series, aquatic shows and movies. The movie, “Dolphin Tale,” is based on a true story inspired by Winter, a Bottlenose Dolphin that was rescued in December 2005 off the Florida coast and taken in by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. It’s a touching story centered on the friendship between a boy and his amazing dolphin friend. Winter lost her tail after becoming entangled with a rope attached to a crab trap and was fitted with a prosthetic one. Back in the winter of 2005 when Winter was a mere three months old, she became entangled in a crab trap. A rope from the trap became wrapped around her tail and all of her efforts to escape just made the injuries worse. Normally, this would have been the end of Winter. Unfortunately, thousands of dolphins die every year in the same way, but she was lucky. Winter was discovered by a fisherman and eventually transported to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. There marine biologists were forced to remove the mangled tail. They also named her Winter for the season when she was discovered. It’s a movie that many call a, “must see.”

Dolphins are dying more frequently than ever before because of human activity. They get caught in fishing net and are killed for commercial purposes. Now, there are numerous private and public organizations that work tirelessly for the conservation of all species of dolphins.

Dolphin SMART is one such organization. It began in the Florida Keys as a voluntary participation program for businesses that seek to educate people about responsible viewing of wild dolphins. It was developed by NOAA National Marine Sanctuary and National Marine Fisheries Service, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and the Dolphin Ecology Project. Among its accomplishments, the initiative—which is spearheaded by Joanne McDonough—partnered with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in a new program designed to protect wild dolphins.

Locally, this program is made possible in Alabama through the support of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (Coastal Section), the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. For more, visit the Dolphin SMART program page or call local program coordinator Kelly Brinkman at 621-1216, ext. 232.

The Nature Tourism Initiative is funded by Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Extension and the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau. For more on this program, contact Nature Tourism Specialist Joanne McDonough or call 974-4634.

Here on the Coast, dolphin watching is a fun activity for couples and families Book a seat on a dolphin cruise and explore the water world of our most famous marine mammal. From unforgettable, romantic sunset dinners to family outings, dolphin cruises offer a unique opportunity to see Alabama’s Gulf Coast from the water—a once-in-a-lifetime experience for you and your family to see these amazing animals with your own eyes!