The_Sociology_Of_Dolphins

The Sociology Of Dolphins Introduction Dolphins are aquatic mammals, which belong to the whale family. The bottlenose dolphin in particular is very easy to research because of their adaptability to captivity. The bottlenose dolphin, tursiops truncates, is black or slate blue above and lighter underneath. It has dark flippers and is usually 6-12 feet in length. (Encyclopedia Americana 262). It can travel at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour. (Cox 107). Communication Dolphins are believed to imitate human speech by means of echolocation. (Encyclopedia Americana 262). Echolocation is emittance of sounds in the form of short pulses, called clicks, and listening for return echoes. (Carwardine 131). The process of echolocation is believed to work like this: Sound is produced internally. The “brain” focuses this sound into a beam. Reflected echoes carrying information about targets are received at the “acoustic window” area of the dolphins’ lower jaw. The sound is then transmitted by the fatty organ in the lower jaw to the middle ear and then to the brain for processing and interpretation. (Carwardine 133) In spotted dolphins, each one is believed to have its own identification signal, dolphins, carwardine, females, water, wheeler, donoghue, dolphin, sexual, males, groups, behavior, very, two, male, food, through, sound, number, large, jaw, group, bottlenose, because, travel, over, information, feed, exhibit, echolocation, between, been, whales, tend, swimming, surface