Everyone in Tampa Bay seems to love a dolphin sighting.
The seawall along Vinoy Park in downtown St. Petersburg is a popular viewing spot and when a dolphin is spotted, people gather and the phone cameras start snapping.
Dolphins are smart, playful, social and certainly lovable. After reading these 10 facts, you may love them even more than you already do.
1. Dolphins talk: Dolphin-talk that is. Dolphins have an array of vocalizations such as clicks, whistles and squeals which they use for their well-developed communication skills. Each has its own unique vocal pitch. These differences in vocal pitch are essential to communicating within the pod so dolphins can decipher who’s speaking. Dolphins can use their own signature whistles to call others’ names. (DiscoveryCove.com)
2. They have fun with boats: Studies show that dolphins love to have fun. Sometimes when a boat comes by, they follow it simply for enjoyment’s sake, ranging from traveling through the water at high speed to their interactions with other animals. The wake from boats is also a speed booster for dolphins. They can get from one place to another with much less effort. Sometimes, pods can be seen next to a boat showing off their skills trying to outshine each other with their full set of jumps, flips, and tricks. (NorthAmericanNature.com)
3. Dolphins are actually whales: It’s true. Dolphins are small toothed whales. The largest member of the dolphin family is the Orca, sometimes also referred to as a killer whale.
4. Second in intelligence only to humans: Dolphins are the "brainiacs" of the sea. Over millions of years, their bodies, brains, sensory systems and intelligence have evolved and adapted for living rich and varied lives in water. These are all very different from our own, yet in many ways, they are still more like us than you might suspect. (Uk.Whales.org)
5. Jumping for joy: We’ve all seen dolphins leap out of water in amazing sequence. It’s actually their way of showing off. Leaping out of the water is believed to be dolphins’ way of displaying their youthfulness while at the same time watching out for predators. Beyond just showing off, leaping out of the water helps conserve energy because it takes less effort to swim through the air than push through the water. (DiscoveryCove.com)
6. Their brains have built-in sonar: Dolphins use echolocation. Echolocation is seeing with sound, much like sonar on a submarine. In front of the dolphin's blowhole, is an area called the melon. The melon serves as the lens, through which sound is focused during echolocation. Sound waves are focused through the melon at various frequencies and into the water and bounce off of objects of interest. The sound waves then travel back to the dolphin and are received by their lower jaw, to the inner ear, to the nerves connected directly to the brain, where they translate the sound into an image. (DolphinsPlus.com)
7. They love friends and family: Dolphins are very social animals, primarily living in groups that hunt and play together. Large pods of dolphins, called "superpods" can be made up of 1,000 members or more! (Padi.com)
8. Dolphins can live into their 60s: The oldest known dolphin in the world lived right here, in Sarasota Bay! The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program tracks nearly every dolphin in the bay. At the time of her death in 2017, Nicklo was 67 — making her the oldest documented wild dolphin in the world. Over a period of 20 years, the program sighted her more than 820 times. (SarasotaDolphin.org)
9. Mommy-baby bond: A baby dolphin is known as a calf. Mother-calf bonds are long-lasting; a calf typically stays with its mother for three to six years. Dolphin pregnancies last about 12 months and most dolphins feed their babies milk for two to three years. (SeaWorld.org)
10. Dolphins have belly buttons: Yes, dolphins are born with belly buttons. Like humans, a dolphin’s belly button marks the spot where the umbilical cord connected him or her to the mother’s placenta inside the womb. When a dolphin gives birth, the umbilical cord connecting her and her baby breaks away and the baby is left with a belly button. (US.Whales.org)
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