Creature Feature Encyclopedia: Mammalia

Bottlenosed Dolphin Tursiops truncatus

Dolphins, like all mammals, bear live young and breathe air. Bottlenose dolphins, the largest of the beaked dolphins, grow to be eight to twelve feet long. They live world-wide in temperate and tropical waters, usually in coastal areas, but sometimes in mid-ocean as well. Bottlenose dolphins show a high degree of intelligence, and are very social. They usually have their babies between spring and fall, and have been know to live for 37 years. In the wild, dolphins have often been observed swimming with schools of yellowfin tuna. The exact reason for this relationship is not yet clear to humans.

~A Swim through the Sea © 1994