Bottlenose Dolphin

An excitable dolphin and a skilled swimmer. Likes to play with a ball and receiving rewards. Based off of real life, the common bottlenose dolphin or Atlantic bottlenose dolphin is grey in colour and may be between 2 and 4m long, and weighs between 150 and 650 kg. They have a short and well-defined snout that look like an old-fashioned gin bottle, which is the source for their common name. The snout is not a functional nose; the nose has instead evolved into the blowhole on the top of their heads. Their necks are more flexible than other dolphins' due to five of their seven vertebrae are not being fused together as is seen in other dolphin species. They are great swimmers, gliding through the water using their curved dorsal fin on theor back, a powerful tail and pointed flippers. They can reach speeds over 30 km/h and dive deep as 250 m below the surface. Bottlenose dolphin can be found in the temperate, subtropical and tropical ocean world wide. Some bottlenose dolphin populations live closer to the shore and others live further out to the sea. The coastal dolphins appear to adapt to warm, shallow waters. It has a smaller body and larger flippers, for maneuverability (A controlled change in movement or direction of a moving vessel ) and heat dispersal. They can be found in harbors, bays, lagoons and estuaries (a large river). Offshore dolphins, however, are adapted to cooler, deeper waters. Certain qualities in its blood, suggest it's more suited to deep diving. Its considerably larger body protects it against predators and helps it retain heat. Bottlenose dolphins live in groups called "pods". The most common is a nursery group of 5-20 dolphins made up of females and their calves. Although, occasionally they will gather in groups of 1,000 or more. Their diets consist mainly of eels, squid, shrimp and wide variety of fishes. Instead of chewing, they swallow the food as whole. Dolphins search for prey primarily using echolocation, which is a form of sonar. They emit clicking sounds and listen for the reture echoes to determine the location and shape of nearby obstacles, including the blowhole and sounds emitted through body language, such as leaping from the water and slapping their tails on the water. An average life expectancy of a cimmon bottlenose dolphin is about 17 years old, but in captivity, they have been known to live to up to 51 years old.