Mammals of the WorldCommon Bottlenose Dolphin
Tursiops truncatus
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Delphinidae
- Genus
- Tursiops
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- Albania|Algeria|American Samoa|Angola|Anguilla|Antigua and Barbuda|Argentina|Aruba|Australia|Bahamas|Bangladesh|Barbados|Belgium|Belize|Benin|Bermuda|Bonaire|Sint Eustatius|Saba|Bosnia and Herzegovina|Brazil|Brunei|Bulgaria|Cape Verde|Cambodia|Cameroon|Canada|Cayman Islands|Chile|China|Cocos Islands|Colombia|Comoros|Republic of the Congo|Cook Islands|Costa Rica|Croatia|Cuba|Curaçao|Cyprus|Cote d'Ivoire|Denmark|Djibouti|Dominica|Dominican Republic|Ecuador|Egypt|El Salvador|Falkland Islands|Fiji|France|French Guiana|French Polynesia|Gabon|Gambia|Georgia|Germany|Ghana|Greece|Grenada|Guadeloupe|Guam|Guatemala|Guinea|Guinea-Bissau|Guyana|Haiti|Honduras|India|Indonesia|Ireland|Israel|Italy|Jamaica|Japan|Kenya|Kiribati|South Korea|Lebanon|Liberia|Libya|Madagascar|Malaysia|Maldives|Malta|Marshall Islands|Martinique|Mauritania|Mayotte|Mexico|Micronesia|Montenegro|Morocco|Namibia|Nauru|Netherlands|New Caledonia|New Zealand|Nicaragua|Nigeria|Niue|Northern Marianas|Oman|Pakistan|Palau|Panama|Papua New Guinea|Peru|Philippines|Pitcairn|Portugal|Puerto Rico|Romania|Russia|Réunion|Saint Helena|Saint Kitts and Nevis|Saint Lucia|Sint Maarten|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|Samoa|São Tomé and Príncipe|Saudi Arabia|Senegal|Seychelles|Singapore|Slovenia|Solomon Islands|Somalia|South Africa|Spain|Sri Lanka|Suriname|Syria|Taiwan|Tanzania|Thailand|Togo|Tonga|Christmas Island|Trinidad and Tobago|Tunisia|Turkey|Turks and Caicos Islands|Ukraine|United Kingdom|United States|Uruguay|Vanuatu|Venezuela|Vietnam|British Virgin Islands|United States Virgin Islands|Wallis and Futuna|Yemen|Eritrea|Bahrain?|Democratic Republic of the Congo?|Equatorial Guinea?|Iran?|Iraq?|Jordan?|North Korea?|Kuwait?|Mauritius?|Montserrat?|Norfolk Island?|Qatar?|Sierra Leone?|Sudan?|East Timor?|Tokelau?|Tuvalu?|United Arab Emirates?
- Realm
- Marine
Other names: Black Porpoise|Bottlenose Dolphin|Black Sea Bottlenose Dolphin
About this species
- Size
- 2–4m; usually 2.5–3.5m
- Weight
- 150–650kg; usually 200–500kg
- Habitat
- Inshore and offshore waters
- Litter size
- 1 calf
- Gestation
- About one year
The common bottlenose dolphin is grey with a short, well-defined beak, a single blowhole and a hooked dorsal fin. Adults are 2–4 m long and 150–650 kg, and in most places 2.5–3.5 m and 200–500 kg. Some populations live close to shore and others further out to sea. It is one of three bottlenose dolphin species; the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, described separately, is more slender with a longer beak (Wikipedia, general species account).
It is very social and lives in pods that typically number about 15 but range from pairs to over 100, and occasionally over 1,000 for short periods. Groups include nursery groups, juvenile groups and groups of adult males. Male dolphins form pair bonds, the strongest of dolphin bonds, while females stay with their calves for 3–8 years. After a year-long gestation a female bears a single calf. The cached account gives no detail specific to India (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)