Dolphins- Friends of Human but Why are they aggressive sometimes??

What are dolphins? They Look like Fish. Are they Fish?? 

Dolphins may swim through the water as gracefully as any fish, but they are not fish. 

Dolphins are mammals. Because they:

i) are warm-blooded,

ii) breathe through lungs, not gills. Dolphins, like whales, need to periodically come to the surface to replenish their air supply. They have blowholes that they close while diving, and then open at the surface for air.

iii) give birth to live young, produce milk for their young, 

iv) have body hair (doesn’t look like it, but they do!), 

v) Their body is able to regulate its own temperature, so they stay warm even when the water temperatures around them are cold. 

Adaptation: Marine mammals have also adapted in some special ways to thrive in an aquatic environment. For instance, dolphins exchange 80% of the air in their lungs with each breath, while humans are only capable of exchanging 17%. Marine mammals also have a greater capacity for oxygen storage in their lungs, blood, and muscles. All of this creates a more efficient use of the oxygen in their bodies and is what allows many species to dive for extended periods of time.

Live Birth: Dolphins give birth to live young and do not lay eggs. They can get pregnant on average every two to four years once they're mature, although some species can have 5-7 years between births. Dolphin calves tend to stay close to their mothers for a few years before venturing off on their own. However, some calves will stay with their mothers for a lifetime.

Nursing: Along with gestating their young, dolphins produce milk to nourish them. It may seem tricky for calves to nurse underwater, but dolphins have adapted some special physiological traits to work around this issue.

Body Hair: Newborn calves have hairs on their rostrum (their beak) that fall out soon after birth This is believed to be an evolutionary remnant from when they lived on land.

Are Dolphins Intelligent?

Dolphins are considered one of the world's most intelligent animals, and they have several cognitive abilities that set them apart. Many researchers consider intelligence to be a combination of perception, communication, and problem-solving. You can see dolphin intelligence in action in the way they communicate and use tools.

How do Dolphins Communicate?

One of the fascinating things about these marine mammals is their complex methods of communication. So how do dolphins communicate? There are three main ways: whistles, echolocation, and social communication. 

Communication is a big part of how dolphins socialize and hunt. They have the ability to echolocate with a series of clicks, allowing them to find other dolphins or similar species and prey even in the low-light conditions of the ocean. Dolphins also have a complicated method of communicating with each other. From an outside perspective, dolphins may seem to communicate much like humans. However, researchers are still investigating both how dolphins communicate and what information they are able to pass to each other. Dolphins communicate through more than just clicks and whistles. They can also slap the water's surface with their tail or bodies, which is officially termed breaching.

Dolphins can make squeaks, buzzes, whistles, clicks, and a wide array of other crazy noises.. These whistles can be heard by others of the species from miles away. Their whistle repertoire can change as they get older, and dolphins who bond with one another can learn each others signature whistles and often copy each other’s whistles.

 Mechanism of Dolphin communication and navigation: Echolocation serves for both communication and for navigation. Echolocation is seeing with sound, much like sonar on a submarine. The dolphin emits a sound and then listens for the echo as that sound bounces off of objects, these sound waves travel back to the dolphin. Dolphins are able to get much more information out of the sound than humans. This includes the size and shape of objects or obstructions near them and even what material they are made of.

Why Dolphins sometimes turns aggressive???

Dolphins are not water toys or pets. Truly wild dolphins will bite when they are angry, frustrated, or afraid. They are disturbed when people try to swim with them. Dolphins who have become career beggars can be pushy, aggressive, and threatening when they don't get the handout they expect. This can occur when a dolphin has been mistreated, has been isolated from its family and friends for an extended amount of time, when they are placed in small tanks for long periods of time or when they come into contact with loud and/or large object’s that are frightening and unfamiliar to them of such as loud boat engines or unfamiliar acoustic sounds. They show occasional signs of aggression when they have been isolated for long periods of time in an unnatural environment due to the fact that they are a very social species and prefer open space and freedom.

Fortunately dolphin attacks are extremely rare and the likelihood of being injured or seriously harmed by a dolphin is even less rare.

Protect Wild Dolphins: Admire Them from a Distance

It is against the law to feed or harass wild dolphins. For the dolphins' sake, and for your safety, please don't feed, swim with, or harass wild dolphins.

It is illegal to feed or harass wild dolphins.

Dolphins have a reputation for being friendly, but they are actually wild animals who should be treated with caution and respect. Interactions with people change dolphin behavior for the worse. They lose their natural wariness, which makes them easy targets for vandalism and shark attack. 

Let the Wild Ones Stay Wild

Feeding or attempting to feed wild dolphins is prohibited under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and implementing regulations.

While many dolphins are often friendly, outgoing, curious or just sedentary they have been known to attack humans and other marine mammals when they feel threatened or are highly stressed due to unwelcome situations and/or circumstances.

(Authored/ Writen and Presented by: Sahidul Islam , dated : the 20th nov, 2020)

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