Dolphins in the Wild

Here we’re looking at a pod of dolphins moving slowly north along the east coast of Australia near Byron Bay in the crystal blue waters of the Pacific Ocean.

There are about 40 species of dolphin around the world and this is a pod of bottlenose dolphins, which are prevalent along the east coast of New South Wales.

Dolphins are marine mammals and mostly congregate in groups called pods. They are often found close to the coast feeding on small fish and squid.  Pods usually consist of 10 to 15 dolphins but in areas where there is a good supply of food pods can join up forming a super pod of anywhere up to a 1000 dolphins.

Dolphins communicate using clicks, whistles and body language, and although they are very social they don’t always stay within the same pod and changing pods is not uncommon.

Being highly intelligent (compared to other animals) they possess strong bonds with each other and are known to help injured or sick members surface so they can breathe.

Although this particular pod is making its way very slowly, dolphins are in fact built for speed. A streamlined body with a large powerful tail fin called a fluke, combined with fins on their underbelly (called pectoral fins) means they can swim extremely fast and can keep up with a variety of motor power boats. Their dorsal fin helps with stability during high speeds.

Dolphins are popular with humans and can be found performing tricks in most large marine parks around the world. They have also been known to play with swimmers in the wild as well as amongst themselves sometimes surfing waves like humans do.

Their intelligence and social interaction allows them to hunt together by herding schools of fish, then taking it in turns to feed by ploughing through the school. They also have the ability to coral fish into shallow water where they are more easily captured.

Dolphins such as these bottlenose, being mammals (not fish) are warm blooded like humans. They give birth to one baby at a time called a calf. When bottlenose calves are born they are about 90 – 130 cms long and will grow to about 4 meters. They can live up to 40 years. Calves will stay with their mothers and learn about life between 3 to 6 years. Females including mothers and sisters will generally stay with the same pod but males are more likely to leave and form or join other pods.

Generally they have defined feeding areas or territories that they rarely leave.

Although bottlenose dolphins prefer the shallow waters near the coast, they can in fact dive to depths of up to 500 meters.  

As you can see with this pod, dolphins breath air like humans through a blow hole at the top of their heads.
A dolphin may empty and refill its lungs in less than a fifth of a second. As the dolphin breathes the air leaves the blowhole at speeds of over 160kph.

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