Where and when can you see dolphins. Chinese river dolphin: all about the rarest animal Country where you can meet river dolphins

Inhabitants Barents Sea are white-faced and white-sided dolphins.

white-faced dolphin- This is a rather rare and little-studied species. It is listed in the Red Book because long time hunted for meat and fat. Today, their population is slowly recovering. White-faced dolphins live in coastal areas in schools of 20-30 individuals. Growth adult can reach three meters. And you can recognize it by its black color, white beak, wide white stripes along the body and sickle-shaped dorsal fin.

Atlantic white-sided dolphin also listed in the Red Book. It is considered a heat-loving species, so meet it in northern seas this is a rarity and a blessing. This type of dolphin is slightly smaller than the white-faced, growing up to 2.5 meters. The distinguishing feature is the long white stripe along the black body on both sides, as well as a large white or yellow spot at both sides dorsal fin. Unfortunately, hunting for white-sided dolphins continues to this day.

See dolphins in the Barents Sea it is possible in the area of ​​the Rybachy Peninsula, along the Teriberskaya Bay and near the Teribersky Cape, and also extremely rarely in the Kola Bay.

Dolphins in the Baltic Sea

Inhabitants Baltic Sea are the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin and the harbor porpoise.

Atlantic bottlenose dolphin- The bottlenose dolphin family is considered medium-sized dolphins, among which the Atlantic species is considered the largest and reaches three meters in length. They are gray in color with a white belly. Bottlenose dolphins live off the coast in moderately warm waters in small groups. Meet among them and couples. Bottlenose dolphins are considered the most intelligent and friendly of the cetacean family. They are very smart and often save people and animals in trouble.

Harbour porpoise. It is found in the Baltic Sea and is a very rare endangered species, which is sometimes attributed to dolphins, somewhere to whales, but in general, it is a mammal of the cetacean family. Representatives of this species are usually small in size, up to two meters maximum. The body has a dark gray color, and the belly is almost white with gray stripes along the entire body. Most often, porpoises swim alone or in small groups of up to 5 individuals.

See dolphins in the Baltic Sea you can in the Gdansk Bay, near the village of Povarovka, where they are often seen by fishermen, as well as along the Curonian Spit.

Dolphins in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk

The inhabitants of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk are the Pacific dolphin and the white whale.

pacific dolphina direct relative of the Atlantic white-sided dolphin, only slightly smaller. The largest male reaches 2.3 meters in length. Besides hallmark Pacific dolphin is black line, which runs along the lower part of the body, from the mouth to the fins and between the fins. In addition, their front fins are shorter and wider than those of other species. These dolphins live in the northern part Pacific Ocean and rush across the expanses of water in large schools of up to a thousand individuals.

Beluga whale called differently polar dolphin. This is a mammal of the dolphin family of the whale suborder, so someone considers the beluga whale a whale, and someone a dolphin. Beluga whales are born almost black, but adults are completely white. Also, this dolphin giant size up to six meters in length. Beluga whales live in flocks, and inside the flocks are divided into groups: male and female with cubs. Despite their huge size and toothy mouth, beluga whales are surprisingly kind and affectionate creatures.

See dolphins in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk possible in the Sakhalin Bay, the Amur Estuary, near the Shantar Archipelago, near west coast Kamchatka. Beluga can also be seen in the White Sea.

Dolphins in the Black Sea

Black Sea common flank somewhat smaller than the Atlantic, but the fastest. They say that in terms of speed, these dolphins do not step on some ships, breaking up to 60 kilometers per hour. White-sided dolphins live much further from the coast than bottlenose dolphins. They prefer the open sea, and in captivity they die rather quickly.

See dolphins in the Black Sea can be along the entire Crimean coast, as well as in the Anapa region.

To the question Where do river dolphins live, asked by the author Eavil Baskakov the best answer is River dolphins - a superfamily of cetacean dolphins. The superfamily includes four living species of dolphins, three of which live in freshwater bodies, and the fourth, La Plata dolphins, lives in the ocean. River dolphins are on the brink of extinction due to loss of habitat, small populations and human hunting. In addition, river dolphins have extremely poor eyesight, which causes numerous collisions with people and those artificial objects that are difficult for them to detect with their sonar.

Answer from Vladimir Androsov[expert]
in the river Delfinia

Answer from Anastasija Sidorovic[active]
In the river ocean

Answer from Vyacheslav Gordeev[guru]
In the Amazon, there seem to be some kind of bottlenose

Answer from Dispatcher YUUNG[guru]
Family DOLPHINS RIVER OR FRESHWATER (Platanistidae) The most ancient family of modern toothed whales. It originated in the Miocene and spread widely in the ocean, but was forced out by competitors and enemies into the rivers. For river dolphins characterized by primitive features inherited from their ancestors - squalodonts: an extremely elongated, narrow snout and a long mandibular symphysis. The "beak" is thin and long (¹/6–¹/7 body length), sharply separated from the frontal protrusion. The frontal prominence is sometimes sloping or somewhat more convex. The Amazonian and Gangetic dolphins have a cervical interception. Teeth wrinkled, unimodal, unequal in size, with extended roots. Teeth in Laplatian dolphins are from 200 to 242 in both jaws, in representatives of other genera from 100 to 130. In the brain, the number of convolutions is less than in other dolphins. Pectoral fins short and very wide. Instead of a dorsal fin, a low, elongated ridge in the posterior half of the body. The dorsal fin is small in the Amazonian and Gangetic dolphins and relatively large in the La Plata and lacustrine dolphins. The head is very mobile and can turn at an angle of 90 ° to the body. Free cervical vertebrae and neck interception. Vertebrae from 41 to 45. The cervical ones do not grow together. The skeleton bears the features of extinct ancient dolphins. The skull of river dolphins is almost symmetrical. The halves of the lower jaw are fused together (or at least closely adjacent to each other) for about half of their length. The outer edge of the maxillary bone with a longitudinal crest.
The size of all river dolphins is small. Body length 1.5–2.9 m. Weight up to 40–123 kg. The females are somewhat larger than the males. Body color varies greatly from brown or blackish to almost white. Vision is poorly developed or completely absent, for example, in Gangetic dolphins, in whose eyes there is no lens. Animals get fish, mollusks and worms not only in the water, but also dig out from the bottom sediments. In this regard, their beak, seated with hard tactile hairs, has hypersensitivity and vision is impaired. But everyone has a well-developed hearing and echolocation apparatus - the main sources of information about the environment. The range of the family is relict and broken: two monotypic genera live in the rivers Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan; in the lake Dongtinghu in China; in the river Amazon and Orinoco; in the river La Plata and along the Atlantic coast from central Brazil to Central Argentina in South America. They live mainly in rivers and their mouths. feed on various fish and freshwater crustaceans. They usually keep alone or in small groups of 2-12 individuals. Less active than members of the dolphin family. The duration of the dive is small - no more than a few minutes. Reproduction is almost not studied. economic value Dont Have. Most species need protection.
The family includes 4 genera of dolphins: Laplatsky, Amazonian, lake Chinese and Ganges. Each genus contains a single species.

Amazing marine inhabitants, dolphins are mammals, and by no means fish, despite the fact that they spend their whole lives in water element. These creatures are very beautiful and smart, therefore they are kept by man in artificially created aquariums and are used as a very original therapy.

Brief introduction

Dolphins belong to the mammals of the cetacean order. There are several genera of such animals, differing in structural features and body size, but they are all predators. Dolphin habitat for most species - sea ​​water, only some representatives of this family are found in rivers.

These animals are distinguished by the ability to develop quite impressive speed in the water, they are mobile, curious, and the latter Scientific research proved that their brains are well developed, much stronger than the hemispheres of chimpanzees.

Beautiful marine inhabitants use fish as food, and the following species are most preferred for them:

• anchovies;
• sardine;
• horse mackerel;
• mackerel.

Also in the diet of dolphins are squid and shellfish. Moreover, the diet largely depends on the habitat of the described animals.

Where do they live

You can meet these smart mammals exclusively in the water element, they live in almost all corners of the planet Earth, except for the Arctic and Antarctic. Most of them prefer the vastness of the oceans and seas, however, as already mentioned, certain types also found in large freshwater rivers.

Telling in which climate zone dolphins live, we can mention:

• moderate;
• subtropical;
• tropical.

At the same time, mammals can travel long distances, leaving one belt and entering another.

Examples

There are several genera of aquatic mammals, each of which prefers its own body of water. Let's find out what climate zone dolphins live in various kinds and childbirth:

• Bottlenose dolphins are common in warm waters Atlantic Ocean, from temperate to subtropical climate zone.
• Short-headed dolphins prefer the temperate climate zone, some of them swim even further into the zones
• White flanks - common members of the family - inhabit the Mediterranean and Black Sea, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, preferring water of warm or moderate temperature.
• Amazonian river dolphins live in estuaries, other fresh water bodies, sometimes they even move to flooded forests.

River dolphins are also found in such rivers as the Brahmaputra, Indus, Orinoco, Ganges. Among the mammals, there are inhabitants of the lakes - dolphins were found in the Chinese reservoirs Poyanghu and Dongtinghu.

In Russia

Consider the habitat of dolphins in Russia. These are the three seas:

• Black;
• Barents;
• Baltic.

In addition, swum bottlenose dolphins can sometimes be found in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

A rare species listed in the Red Book is the Atlantic white-sided dolphin. Prefers the waters of the harsh Barents Sea. The average size body of this marine life small, no more than 3 meters. You can recognize them by the characteristic color of the sides, which are decorated with a long strip of white or light yellow color. This type it is distinguished by great caution, rarely swims up to ships, and therefore is poorly studied.

The Black Sea is home to three species of dolphins:

• Porpoises (they can also be seen in the Baltic Sea).
• White-sided.
• bottlenose dolphins.

Let's take a closer look at the life features of Russian aquatic mammals.

Or Azovki - small creatures, their weight does not exceed 30 kg, the body length of an adult is not more than 1.5 m. They feed on small species of fish, less often - invertebrates. To obtain food, they dive to a depth of more than 70 m, where they are able to stay for more than 5 minutes.

White flanks of the Black Sea are small representatives of their family. Their length rarely exceeds 2 m. sharp teeth, the number of which is about 200 pieces, and due to the white color of the belly, they are easily recognizable. This creature can stay in the water for about 8 minutes, and jumps out of it to a height of more than 5 m.

Finally, bottlenose dolphins are the largest representatives of the dolphin family. They are protected, but once a year several of these mammals can be caught for aquariums.

A selection of interesting facts

We examined the climate zone in which dolphins live. The answer is in the tropics, subtropics and temperate zone. We offer you to familiarize yourself with a number of interesting facts related to these mammals:

• The communication of these unusual creations of nature occurs through ultrasound, but they perfectly imitate the voices of other living beings, including the human one.
• Dolphins have complex emotions, they can feel compassion and have fun.
• Despite the fact that the jaw of a dolphin has more than a hundred teeth, they do not chew their food, but swallow it whole.
• They can recognize their reflection in the mirror.
• Some species are able to stay awake for more than 5 days without damage to health.
• Females bear offspring for 9-16 months, always give birth to one cub, which may not sleep for 30 days, forcing the mother to a long wakefulness.
• If in the waters of the seas and oceans mammals live up to 50 years, then in captivity their life span is reduced by more than 2 times.

We examined the climatic zone in which dolphins live, and also got acquainted with some interesting facts from their life. Dolphins are amazingly intelligent creatures, watching which will bring real joy to both children and adults.

So, before getting into questions like “where?” and “when?” It is worth getting to know these wonderful animals better. Let's first discuss the reason for their popularity. Since ancient times, dolphins have been respected and revered in various parts of our planet. Their extraordinary sharp mind, attractive appearance, friendliness, grace and a whole bunch of mysteries associated with their study, only stir up interest and desire to see this miracle of nature with your own eyes. It's no secret that dolphins often became the heroes of stories about saving people at sea. The desire to help another species in trouble distinguishes them from most mammals, thereby evoking trusting and respectful feelings. And of course, these “smiling” faces leave few people indifferent. Our short article will help you deal with questions such as:

bottlenose dolphin

The bottlenose dolphin is considered the most popular and trained in the world, although there are more than forty species of dolphins in total. The bottlenose dolphin is uniquely adaptable and unpretentious, which is why they are most often bred in captivity. But in fact, the warm waters of the oceans are still the most comfortable for them, where they can play and splash around a lot, as well as independently get food, plunging up to five hundred meters deep.

humpback dolphins

It should be noted very beautiful Chinese white look, or as they are also called - Humpback Dolphins (eng. Pacific Humpback Dolphin). This species has five varieties depending on geographical location its habitats, but all of them are united by the fact that dolphins of this species prefer to live near the coast and choose rather shallow bays. Unlike bottlenose dolphins, to eat fish, humpback dolphins dive into the water for a maximum of one hundred meters. They are not particularly picky, and will not dive for deep-sea delicacies. Another important point What distinguishes the Chinese white species from all others is that their mating period does not depend on the time of year, that is, they can breed all year round, which attracts tourists from all over the world, because mating games such large animals - a very impressive sight. These animals live in groups of several individuals, usually up to 10. Less often, flocks of up to 25 individuals are formed.

white flank

The next type of dolphin is white flank, or in another way, an ordinary dolphin. Dolphins of this species are perhaps one of the most beautiful, slender and colorful. The common dolphin is a dolphin in the classical sense: a gray back, a white belly and an elongated beak. The common dolphin is one of the fastest species, its speed sometimes reaches sixty km / h, which means that not a single shark will catch up with these fervent beauties. The common dolphin's favorite way of moving is very spectacular: long jumps above the surface of the water, due to which, in fact, they achieve such speed. All dolphins are gregarious animals, but this particular species is distinguished by the scale of its family. Usually their number is up to 500 individuals, but groups of up to two thousand individuals in one flock have also been recorded.

Well, perhaps you can not ignore the rarest, but at the same time the most large view-, or, as it is often called, Inia. The very name of the species hints that the Amazonian river dolphins live in fresh water, estuaries, and sometimes even in flooded forests. Unfortunately, due to close coexistence with humans, these pink-gray mammals are on the verge of extinction and are listed in the Red Book. Fishermen set up nets for catching fish, but often, due to their poor eyesight, Inia also gets there. FROM recently killing dolphins is prohibited by law, and therefore, accidentally caught, injured and exhausted, they are again released into the wild, but unfortunately, not all of them survive.

The Amazonian dolphin is not difficult to identify: its long, thin beak, large sausage-like body, lower fan-fins, and short upper fin are distinctive features, and do not forget, of course, about the color of adults, which become either completely pink or pink- grey colour. All representatives of the river dolphin family prefer to live alone or in very small flocks. Sometimes only the female and the cub are found together. Perhaps this is due to the scarcity of food in their habitats.

You can talk about the variety of species and subspecies of dolphins for a very long time, there are quite a lot of them, so only the most popular and recognizable species of dolphins are described above.

Where can you see dolphins

The habitat of these funny mammals is very diverse, they can be found almost in any warm water seas and oceans, and even in rivers, but do not forget that each species has its own characteristics and preferences that must be taken into account when going on a trip.

River dolphins are much smaller than their marine relatives and their various subspecies live in the vicinity of the banks of the Ganges, Hooghly and Brahmaputra (India and neighboring countries), the Yangtze (China), Meghna and Karnaphuli (Bangladesh), the Indus River basins (Pakistan) and the basins of a huge river Amazon, at the mouth of La Plata and in the Orinoco River (South America). Not many people know, but there are lakes in which dolphins were also seen, they are located in China and are called Dongtinghu and Poyanghu.

FROM sea ​​views dolphins, everything is much more interesting, because the diversity and abundance sea ​​dolphins much bigger. In Russia, such dolphins are very common in the Black, Barents and Baltic Seas. Dolphins are also found in the Belgian and Okhotsk Seas, but they are extremely rare and predominantly the bottlenose dolphin species.

This species is also found in the Atlantic from the latitude of South Greenland and Norway to Uruguay, Argentina and South Africa. The Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the southern coast of Australia and dozens of other extraordinary places where you can go to admire these amazing animals.

Various species of sea dolphins can be observed near most of the sea and ocean coasts and islands, including the Red Sea coast of Egypt, Canary Islands, Azores, Caribbean Islands, Hawaii, Bahamas, coasts of Scotland, Iceland, Florida (USA), Alaska, Tasmania, Mexico and New Zealand.

When is the best time to watch dolphins

So, we figured out which dolphins are the most popular and where you can watch them in wild nature, now it's time to find out when, that is, at what time of the year it is most likely to meet our friends. Of course, you need to take into account the fact that the sea or the river is not an oceanarium or a dolphinarium, having arrived in which you are guaranteed to be able to admire and even take pictures with dolphins, and in some places, for a fee, you can swim and watch the show. However, we do not recommend to support dolphinariums with their visits due to the trend of banning dolphinariums in a number of countries, because such intelligent and sensitive animals do not deserve to live in chlorinated confinement. In the wild, things are different. Here only luck and awareness of the guides can help you, because despite the friendliness and curiosity, dolphins have an instinct for self-preservation and do not always strive to communicate with people with particular enthusiasm. There is a huge plus in all this, because having met dolphins in their usual habitat, you can observe their life, their natural behavior and fall in love with these wonderful and funny mammals even more.

Almost all dolphins breed all year round, but the most active mating period occurs during the warmest months from March to August. Since these animals are warm-blooded, they choose the time for games based on their needs. Females each time choose a new partner and bear the baby for a whole year.

Since dolphins forage for food during the day and sleep either after a heavy meal or at night, it is most likely to catch them playing and splashing in the water in the early morning or in the afternoon. AT winter period there is less time for fish and other food, so the animals we love have to sail farther and farther from the coast in order to obtain food and the likelihood of meeting them is sharply reduced.

Summing up all of the above, it becomes clear that everyone can meet dolphins if they take into account their characteristics and know their habitats. In any case, in almost every country where dolphins live, there are locals who know many secrets about their surroundings, you just have to make friends with them and they will be happy to help you fulfill your dream of seeing a dolphin.

• When dolphins sleep, their brains are only half resting. For example, if the right hemisphere is sleeping, then the left one is actively working at this moment.
• Dolphins communicate mainly at the level of ultrasound, but they can imitate other sounds, even human voices.
• The brain of a dolphin is very developed and is almost not inferior to a human in terms of the complexity of the device.
• At the time of the birth of the cub, the female is in the water, during the process of the appearance of the baby, she raises her tail high, so during the birth the baby has time to take a breath, and only then falls into the water.
• Despite its high development, these animals are not at all aggressive, and serve people with joy and devotion, ranging from helping in fishing, ending with the fact that they chase away sharks and save the lives of weakened swimmers or people who accidentally fall into the water.
• Dolphins have a very wide range of emotions, they even have compassion and a sense of humor.
• The air released from the blowhole reaches a speed of 160 km/h.
• Dolphins are able to navigate magnetic field Lands to pave your way on long journeys.
• These animals have up to 100 teeth, but they do not chew food with them, but only capture and swallow any prey whole.
• Some species of dolphins can jump up to six meters high out of the water.
• Due to the ability of echolocation, the dolphin is able to determine the pregnancy of a woman.
• Also, these amazing aquatic animals have the ability to see and recognize themselves in the mirror and admire themselves.
• Dolphins are self-aware and are the only animals that use their brains more than humans.

And finally...

The dolphin is a representative of the suborder of toothed whales, the order of cetaceans, the dolphin family (Delphinidae). The graceful body of the dolphin has a spindle-shaped streamlined shape, which allows these mammals to quickly cut through the water surface. The speed of the dolphin reaches 50 km/h.

Humans and Dolphins

People have known about the extraordinary mind and quick wit of dolphins for a long time. These charming animals rescue people from ships in distress, preventing them from drowning. You could even say that dolphins are the smartest animals on the planet. Many trainers believe that the intelligence of dolphins can be equated to a human, these animals behave so intelligently and unusually.

There is a joke about dolphins, which tells that if a person had not overtaken the dolphins and had not climbed down from the tree before, they would come out of the water and now would be the kings of nature, replacing us.

Dolphin is smart, kind, beautiful, he is an excellent student, analyzes, remembers.

Dolphins are directly related to formidable inhabitants oceans, killer whales and. There are about 50 species of dolphins. These include the porpoise, black dolphin, gray dolphin, white-faced dolphin, Atlantic white-sided dolphin.

The most popular bottlenose dolphin ( big dolphin), which people basically have in mind when talking about meetings with representatives of this species. They are well studied and tamed. Bottlenose dolphins are filmed in films, they participate in programs for the rehabilitation of children suffering from various neurological ailments.

Dolphin - description and photos. What does a dolphin look like?

A dolphin is not a fish, but a mammal. Common to all species is an elongated streamlined body, which is crowned by a small dolphin head with a beak-shaped mouth. Each jaw contains 80-100 small conical teeth. The dolphin's teeth are slightly tilted inwards. The transition between the muzzle and the frontal part is well defined. Almost all members of the dolphin class have a prominent dorsal fin. The skin is supple and smooth to the touch. The length of the dolphin can reach 4.5 meters depending on the species.

Dolphins in the water move very easily, they practically do not feel its resistance due to special fatty secretions on the skin that facilitate gliding. Interestingly, the dolphin's skin is quickly erased from the friction of water. Therefore, in the deep skin layers they have a significant supply of regenerating cells. The dolphin constantly sheds, changing up to 25 layers of skin per day!

The eyes of dolphins are small, vision is poor. This is due to the fact that animals practically do not use them for hunting. The nostrils are transformed into a blowhole located on the crown of the head.

How do dolphins breathe?

Whales and dolphins are related and can stay under water for a long time without surfacing. The drawbar is closed during such periods. But, like other cetaceans, dolphins still need air underwater and periodically rise to the surface to breathe.

Do dolphins have ears?

Dolphins have no ears. But that doesn't mean they don't have hearing. There is! True, it functions differently from other mammals. Sounds are perceived by the inner ear, and the air cushions located in the frontal part serve as resonators. But these animals are fluent in echolocation. They accurately determine the location and dimensions of the object by the reflected sound, and by the wavelength - the distance to it.

How Do Dolphins Sleep?

Dolphins also have another interesting physiological feature A: They never sleep. Animals hang in the water column, periodically rising to the surface for breathing. During rest, they are able to alternately turn off either the left or the right hemisphere of the brain, that is, only one half of the dolphin's brain sleeps, while the other is awake.

Where do dolphins live?

The habitat of the dolphin is exclusively water bodies. The dolphin lives in almost all places on our planet, with the exception of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Dolphins live in the sea, in the ocean, as well as in large freshwater rivers (Amazonian river dolphin). These mammals love space and move freely over long distances.

Dolphin language

Dolphins are animals social, live in packs, in which there can be from 10 to 100 (sometimes more) individuals, fighting off enemies with common efforts. Inside the pack, there is practically no competition or fights between them; fellow tribesmen coexist peacefully with each other. Dolphins communicate using sounds and signals. Dolphin language extraordinarily varied. The "talk" of these mammals includes clicking, whistling, barking, and chirping. The dolphin voice spectrum extends from the lowest frequencies to ultrasonic. Moreover, they can combine simple sounds into words and sentences, passing information to each other.

What do dolphins eat?

The diet of dolphins includes only fish, preference is given to anchovies. The method of hunting used by animals is also interesting. A flock of dolphins finds a school of fish and with special sounds forces it to huddle into a dense group. As a result of this hunting most of the school becomes prey for dolphins. This feature is often used when attacking frightened fish from the air. There are known facts when dolphins helped fishermen by driving a joint to them in the net.

Sharks and dolphins

An interesting fact is that dolphins live in symbiosis. They often hunt together without showing any aggression towards each other.

Dolphin species

There are 17 genera in the dolphin family. Most interesting varieties dolphins:

• White-bellied dolphin (black dolphin, Chilean dolphin) ( Cephalorhynchus eutropia)

lives exclusively on the coast of Chile. An animal with a rather modest size - the length of the stocky and rather thick body of this cetacean does not exceed 170 cm. The back and sides of the white-bellied dolphin are gray, while the throat, belly area and parts of the flippers adjacent to the body are absolutely white. The flippers and dorsal fin of the white-bellied dolphin are smaller than those of other dolphin species. This species is close to extinction, protected by the Chilean authorities.

• Common Dolphin ( common dolphin) (Delphinus delphis)

The length of a marine animal often reaches 2.4 meters, the weight of a dolphin varies between 60-80 kilograms. In the back area, an ordinary dolphin is painted dark blue or almost black, the belly is white, and a spectacular yellowish-gray stripe runs along the light sides. This species of dolphins lives in the waters of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, feels at ease in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. There is a common dolphin on east coast South America, along the coasts of New Zealand and South Africa, in the seas of Japan and Korea.

• white-faced dolphin ( Lagenorhynchus albirostris)

a large representative of cetaceans with a body length reaching 3 meters and weighing up to 275 kg. Distinctive feature The white-faced dolphin has a very light, sometimes snow-white muzzle. The habitat of this mammal includes the waters of the North Atlantic, the coast of Portugal and Turkey. The dolphin feeds on fish such as navaga, flounder, herring, whiting, as well as mollusks and crustaceans.

• Large-toothed dolphin ( Steno bredanensis)

The body length of this marine mammal 2-2.6 meters, weight varies from 90 to 155 kg. The height of the dorsal fin is 18-28 cm. The color of the dolphin is dominated by gray, over which whitish spots are “scattered”. This species of dolphin is common off the coast of Brazil, in the Gulf of Mexico and California, lives in the warm waters of the Caribbean and Red Seas.

• bottlenose dolphin (large dolphin or bottlenose dolphin) ( Tursiops truncatus)

The length of the animal can vary from 2.3 to 3.6 meters, and weight from 150 to 300 kg. The body color of the bottlenose dolphin depends on the habitat, but basically the species has a dark brown upper part body and grayish-white belly. Sometimes there is a weakly pronounced pattern in the form of fuzzy stripes or spots on the sides. The bottlenose dolphin lives in the Mediterranean, Red, Baltic and Black Seas, and is often found in the Pacific Ocean along the coasts of Japan, Argentina and New Zealand.

• Broad-faced dolphin (beakless dolphin) ( Peponocephala electra)

common in the waters of countries with tropical climate, especially mass populations live along the coast of the Hawaiian Islands. The torpedo-shaped, light gray body of the animal is crowned with a cone-shaped dark gray head. The length of a mammal often reaches 3 meters, and an adult individual weighs more than 200 kg.

• Chinese dolphin (sousa chinensis)

This representative of the genus of humpback dolphins lives in the waters along the coast. South-East Asia, but migrates during the breeding season, therefore it is found in bays, quiet sea lagoons and even rivers washing Australia and the countries of South Africa. The length of the animal can be 2-3.5 meters with a weight of 150-230 kg. Surprisingly, although dolphins are born absolutely black, as they grow, the body color changes first to light gray, with slightly pinkish spots, and adults become almost white. The Chinese dolphin feeds on fish and shellfish.

• Irrawaddy dolphin ( Orcaella brevirostris)

A distinctive feature of this species of dolphins is the complete absence of a beak on the muzzle and a flexible neck, which received mobility due to several skin and muscle folds behind the head. The color of the body of the Irrawaddy dolphin can be either light gray with a blue tint or dark gray, while the belly of the animal is always a tone lighter. In length it aquatic mammal reaches 1.5-2.8 meters with a weight of 115-145 kg. The habitat of the dolphin covers the waters of warm indian ocean, starting from the Bay of Bengal and up to the northern coast of Australia.

• Cruciform Dolphin ( Lagenorhynchus cruciger)

lives exclusively in the waters of the Antarctic and subantarctic. The color of the dolphin is black and white, less often - dark gray. Spectacular mark white color, covering the sides of the mammal, stretches to its muzzle, framing the eye area. The second mark runs along the back of the body, intersecting with the first and forming a pattern in the form hourglass. An adult cruciform dolphin has a body length of about 2 meters in length, the weight of a dolphin varies between 90-120 kilograms.

• Killer whale (killer whale) ( Orcinus orca)

a mammal that belongs to the dolphin family, a genus of killer whales. The male killer whale has a length of about 10 meters and a weight of around 8 tons. Females are smaller: their length reaches 8.7 meters. Pectoral flippers of killer whales have a wide oval shape. Killer whale teeth are quite long - up to 13 cm in length. The sides and back of the mammal are black, the throat is white, and there is a white stripe on the belly. There are white spots above the eyes. Sometimes completely black or white individuals are found in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The killer whale lives in all waters of the oceans, except Sea of ​​Azov, Black Sea, Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea.