Dolphins and their behavior.
In addition of enjoying swimming with dolphins at Dolphinaris, you can take advantage of getting to know more about these interesting and friendly marine mammals. It is said that dolphins are very intelligent, but do you know why? To begin with, we can inquire a little bit on their behavior.
Dolphins are animals that live in groups, and their size may vary. Some are made up by only 2 members, but is known that have been made up by hundreds of dolphins in places full of food. Anyway, dolphins don’t belong to the same group for all their lives. They can switch to another one due to many reasons, like searching for food, mating or migrations.
Something to know about groups is that some of them can contain different species. This is great when they have different feeding habits, that way they don’t compete for food and are able to travel together. In these groups of dolphins, there is a social hierarchy. Domination is established and maintained by biting, chasing, moving their jaws and hitting their tails in the water. Females and males can both be dominant.
Why is it useful for them to live in a community? On one hand, it is useful because they can protect each other; this way is it easier to defend themselves when predators appear. Adult males can patrol further areas from the group to prevent attacks. Besides, they often explore new territories or unknown objects to pass them to the group later.
On the other hand, they help each other when there is an injured member. They can physically support it and take it to the surface so it can breathe. They have a great sense of fellowship and they are very social animals that need interaction to hunt, copulate or defend themselves.
Interaction can be seen in dolphins, for instance, when they play. Both young and adults chase each other and have fun. That way, they get physical contact between them with petting and touching while swimming close along. If we think about communication between dolphins, they communicate through whistling o vocalization, apart from no verbal signals as stance or touching.
About dolphins’ behavior with humans, they are very curious showing great interest in getting close with people. They can also develop affection for their caretakers.
As these animals are very smart and they are always in search of social interaction, people are allies for them, enjoying their company and playing with them. In order to see it yourself and have this experience on your own, snap out of it! Swim with dolphins and share your time with these incredible marine mammals.