dolphin quick fact sheet

Our retreat center here at Home on Dolphin Bay, Bocas del Toro, Panama is a great place to make first hand contact with wild dolphins. Maybe you can observe some of the following quick facts during your visit.

* Whistle like sounds help dolphins keep in contact and communicate with each other as they travel and feed. Dolphins “echolocate” to find their food or to scan their surroundings. They direct “clicks” into the water and the clicks rebound off solid objects (fish, logs, boats) and echo back to the dolphins.

* Bottlenose dolphins consume approximately 8-15 kgs (15-33 lbs.) per day and Orcas approximately 45 kgs (100 lbs.) per day.

* The deepest dive ever recorded for a bottlenose dolphin was a 300 meters (990 feet). This was accomplished by Tuffy, a dolphin trained by the US Navy. Many bottlenose dolphins live in fairly shallow water. In the Sarasota Bay area, dolphins spend much time in waters less than 2 meters (7 feet) deep.

Other whale and dolphin species are able to dive to much greater depths. The pilot whale (Globicephala melaena) can dive to at least 600 meters (2000 feet) and a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) has been found entangled in a cable at more that 900 meters (500 fathoms) depth.

* Dolphins can swim up to 40 km/hr, due to special structures in the skin that reduce turbulence.

* The river dolphins are the only dolphins that are endangered or vulnerable right now, due mostly to pollution.

* The average life expectancy for the bottlenose dolphin is about 25 years.

* Man is the dolphin’s greatest predator, more then 100,000 dolphins die each year because of man.

* Dolphin species vary in their degree of curiosity and interaction with humans. Individual dolphins vary to the same degree. Some species are very shy while others will approach humans with great curiosity.

* Dolphins like bottlenose dolphins give birth about once every 2-4 years.

* Dolphins can jump as high as 5m (16 ft.) from the surface of the water, landing on their backs or sides.

* A male dolphin is called a bull, a female dolphin a cow and a baby dolphin a calf.

* The main prey for dolphins (fish and squid), contains large amounts of water, so dolphins obtain water from their food. Fish, such as herring and mackerel can be made up of as much as 80% moisture, whilst moisture levels in squid are even higher. Dolphins don’t actually need to take in very much fluid because their skin is impermeable and they don’t lose water by sweating.

* Dolphin teeth are shaped like cones and are pointed.

* The killer whale (Orcinus orca) is the largest dolphin. Male killer whales can grow up to 9.6 m (31.5 ft).

* There is not really one smallest species. The smaller species include:
True dolphins (Delphinidae): Tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis) - 1.3 to 1.8 m
Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) - 1.2 to 1.5 m
Black dolphin (Cephalorhynchus eutropia) - 1.2 to 1.7 m
Commerson’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) - 1.3 to 1.7 m
River dolphins (Platanistidae) - 1.3 to 1.7 m
Porpoises (Phocoenidae): Vaquita (Phocoena sinus) - 1.2 to 1.5 m
Finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) - 1.2 to 1.9 m
Amazon dolphin (Sotalia fluviatilis) - to a maximum of 1.9 m (6.25 ft)

* Dolphins out of water have two problems - heat and their own weight. It’s like having a winter coat on in 70 degree weather. A dolphin’s body isn’t designed to support its own weight, it relies on water for support.

* Dolphins are carnivores. Most eat fish and/or squid.