Dolphins
Dolphins are really interesting animals. They are mammals and live in the water, which I find very amazing. Dolphins are smart and they enjoy the company of humans. One of the most exciting things I’ve done is come within five feet of a dolphin at Little Saint Simons Island.
Dolphins, porpoises, and whales are all cetaceans (whale-like animals). Dolphins, porpoises and whales all have a blow hole at the top. When they go up to the surface, only air spouts out of their blow hole. Most people think water spouts out of a blow hole, but really condensation and water on the body of the whale are shooting up.
Dolphins spend all their time in the water. That is why their body is shaped like a torpedo so they can go fast. They swim above a school of fish, and then they dive down and eat a fish. They have sensors that sense the fish and they can locate a tennis-ball size object from over 100 meters. They make clicking noises in the space below its blowhole and there may be up to 700 clicks per second. To humans, it sounds like a creaky door. The clicks come off the fish and come back to the dolphin, and tells it the location of the fish.
Male dolphins mate at 10-12 years old and females at 5-12 years old. Females have one baby every two to three years. They are pregnant for twelve months. Halfway through the twelve months, the mother chooses another female as a midwife. A baby dolphin is born tail first. The midwife helps the mother have the baby. The new baby weighs 25 kilograms (or 55 lbs.). It is 1/6th of the size of its mother. The mother has to lift it up and support it so it can have its first breath of air.
Dolphins are very cool and I want to see some on our trip. So far, we have been to two places with dolphins — China and Australia — but we haven’t seen any. But we are going to some other countries that will have them and I hope to see them.
Fun facts about dolphins:
* Dolphins have 100-200 teeth
* Five types of dolphins live in fresh water and 26 live in salt water
* All the species of river dolphins (or fresh water dolphins) are almost extinct
* Dolphins are dying out because pollution, fishing nets, and trash being dumped in the ocean
* Every year in Eastern Tropic Pacific, at least 100,000 dolphins die in nets used to catch yellowfin tuna