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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI14090834/00001
Notes
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Dolphins 1
Length of Segment: 00:01:16
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Because they're mammals, bottlenose dolphins are warm-blooded, give birth to live young they nourish with milk and must come to the surface to breathe air. Dolphins are among the mammals most highly adapted for life in the water. They've lost their hind legs, their front legs are modified as flippers, and they've become very streamlined, allowing easy movement through the water. As an additional adaptation for speedy movement in the water, they've also lost their coat of hair. A bottlenose dolphin’s nostrils are near the top of its head, and their openings are fused to provide only a single blowhole. In most dolphins, long jaws form a beak-like snout, lined with sharp pointed teeth that aid in capturing fish and squid. Ranging in size from about three feet at birth to six to twelve feet as an adult, the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin is found from cool temperate to tropical waters of oceans around the world. This is the dolphin most often seen along Florida's coast, although it can also be found well off-shore. Bottlenose dolphins appeared on the television series Flipper, and other one's most commonly seen at tourist attractions. ( English )
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Dolphins 2
Length of Segment: 00:01:16
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Dolphins have a conspicuous domed-shaped bump on the forehead, but a look at the skull of a dolphin reveals not a bump but a similar shaped depression on the forehead. The depression cradles a special organ known as a 'melon' because it's shaped like a small melon. The melon is filled with oil and it's the melon that creates the dolphin's forehead bump. A dolphin's oil-filled melon serves as a lens, allowing the dolphin to focus sound in much of the same way that you might focus sunlight with a magnifying glass. That sound is used in communication, as a sonar-like aid in navigation, and as a tool used in hunting. Just as focused sunlight concentrates solar energy enough to start a fire, a dolphin's focused sound energy is strong enough to disorient, stun, or even kill a fish. The sources of the dolphin's sound are its nostrils, located just behind the melon. The dolphin's nostrils have moved back to near the top of the head where they share a single opening for breathing. The bony chambers of the nostrils are different in size, allowing the dolphin to produce different sounds with each nostril, thus increasing its vocabulary. ( English )
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Dolphins 3
Length of Segment: 00:01:15
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Dolphins, such as our bottlenose dolphins, are among the most social of mammals, and this is often seen by boaters who encounter groups of dolphins traveling together and often seeming to play as they swim through the bow waves of a boat. Bottlenose dolphins live in social groups called 'pods'. These are often family groups and group members may defend one another against sharks and aid sick or injured individuals. A group will sometimes drive schools of fishes, encircling them or corralling them near shore so that they're easier to capture. At times, pods join in larger groups and sometimes offshore one might find groups of more than 100 dolphins. Such groups mail off the movement of individuals among groups for the exchange of information about food resources and for cooperative feeding. Bottlenose dolphins sometimes gather in same-sex or age groups, and pairs of males are known to travel together for years, aiding one another in hunting and in seeking mates. Individuals can apparently live for as long as 50 years. We're beginning to learn a lot about bottlenose dolphin social behavior, but we've only just begun. ( English )
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Dolphins 4
Length of Segment: 00:01:15
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. A young female bottlenose dolphin comes at breeding age sometime between the age of five and ten years, and a male, at about ten years of age. A breeding female is usually at least seven feet long, and a male, at least eight feet. A female produces a single calf after a gestation period of about twelve months. Because of a three year (or longer) dependency of the calf on its mother for milk, an adult female can only produce a calf every three to six years. Calves can be born at any time of year, but in Florida, there's a peak of calving in summer. When a calf is born, it's only about three feet long. It must quickly get to the surface for its first breath of air. For several months, it stays very close to its mother, close enough that it literally rides the pressure wave created by its mother's swimming. Thus, a tiny calf, without exerting much effort at all, can keep up with its family group. Older female offspring in a family group often assist in caring for young calves, thus, gaining experience that will help assure their own success as mothers. ( English )
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Dolphins 5
Length of Segment: 00:01:15
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. The Atlantic bottlenose dolphin is the most conspicuous dolphin in Florida. Large populations of them can be found in bays, estuaries, and other near-shore waters around the state. They sometimes even enter larger Florida rivers for a short distance. Bottlenose dolphins can also be found off-shore, and there is some evidence that the off-shore and near-shore populations remain fairly isolated from one another. Off-shore bottlenose dolphins average larger than those near shore, have smaller flippers, and their blood chemistry suggests that they're better adapted for living in cooler waters and capable of deeper diving. Off-shore dolphins also tend to live in larger groups, sometimes numbering in the hundreds. These larger groups and the larger individual size of off-shore dolphins may aid in their defense against sharks. Near-shore bottlenose dolphins are smaller and have larger flippers, suggesting that they may be able to more easily get rid of excess body heat and also maneuver more easily in their shallow water environment. Near-shore dolphins also live in smaller groups, usually including between two and fifteen individuals. ( English )
Record Information
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- Resource Identifier:
- FI00900167
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