Today I'm going to tell you about Dolphins.
Dolphins are very intelligent and they seem to be well loved by humans. This aquatic mammal has been able to fascinate us in a variety of ways. They are curious, form strong bonds within their pod, and they have been known to help humans in a variety of circumstances including rescues and with fishing. There are 43 different species of dolphins that have been recognized. 38 of them are marine dolphins which are those that we are the most aware of and 5 of them are river dolphins. It can be very interesting to look at each of these species uniquely versus dolphins as a whole.They are very entertaining due to the leaps that they make out of the water. Some of them leap up to 30 feet in the air as they do so. They have to come to the surface to for water at different intervals to get air. This can be from 20 seconds to 30 minutes between when they get air. The body of the dolphin is grayish blue and the skin is very sensitive to human touch and to other elements that could be in the water. Even though dolphins have 100 teeth, they don’t use them for eating. They do use them to get the fish though and then they swallow them. They can consume up to 30 pounds fish per day. They usually work as a team in their pod to get the school of fish surrounded and balled up. From there, they can plow through the middle and eat plenty as they do so. Most of the species of dolphins live in saltwater but there are some that are able to do well in the freshwater locations. They are mainly found in the freshwater of the Amazon River. They are easily seen by humans as they tend to stick to the swallow locations of the water.It is amazing the difference in size of the various species of dolphins. The larger ones can weigh about 11 tons and be close to 30 feet long. The smaller ones are about 90 pounds and 4 feet long. Between those two spectrums you will find all weights and lengths. The species as well as their location play a huge role in their overall size.Even though we have plenty of information about dolphins today, there are plenty of questions that remain about their past. There are theories of evolution and even some fossil remains that have surfaced to give clues. It is believed that millions of years ago the dolphins were much smaller than they are today. Many experts also believe that echolocation is a result of the evolution process. Only time and advances in technology though will help us to get definite answers about the evolution of dolphins.The future is at risk for the various species of dolphins though due to habitat destruction, problems finding food, pollutants in the water, and even injuries or death due to getting tangled up in fishing nets or hitting boats in the water. There are conservation efforts in place out there to help protect them so that they can have a very good future. Ashleigh
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