General Information & Facts

The Cetaceans, the Order that dolphins are a part of, include the whales, dolphins and porpoises. Porpoises are in the Family Phocoenidae.

Dolphin are carnivores that primarily eat fish, crustaceans and squid.

Dolphin teeth are used mainly for capturing and holding prey as opposed to biting, tearing and chewing food for swallowing. Dolphin mainly swallow their prey whole.

It is universally accepted that dolphins can not only detect objects using their echolocation system but can also sense the density and "see into" the object similar to ultrasound scanning. 

The Odontoceti is a group of marine mammals known as toothed whales. The bottlenose dolphin belongs to this group.

Bottlenose dolphins generally grow to a maximum size of approximately 3 to 4 meters (10-13 feet) from a normal birth size of a little over 1 meter (approximately 3.5 to 4 feet).

Female dolphins give birth approximately every two years and may show mating behavior throughout the year. Gestation is approximately 12 months.

The Dolphin Project in Georgia has identified over 850 different individual bottlenose dolphin to date. The information is housed in a catalog that also documents the date, time, and location of the sighting as well as weather conditions, behavior at the time and tide state.

The smile on a bottlenose dolphin's face is just the natural shape of their mouth and remains in place no matter what the situation. Dolphin can be extremely aggressive.

Dolphin may swim at speeds approaching 40 km/h.

The lifespan of a dolphin may range from 25 to 65 years.

In coloration, bottlenose dolphin may appear from light to dark gray above
with a pale underside that may range from white to bright pink.