What Do Dolphins Eat

Dolphins are very curious and playful animals. They are not afraid of human beings; on the contrary they are very friendly. Dolphins belong to the great family of cetaceans; they almost always swim in large pods of about forty to fifty dolphins.

They use a system to locate large objects that are close to them called echolocation which works with a sound produced by them. This sound travels through the water and collides with objects. When the signal is returned, the dolphins know how far away they are and can easily evade them.

These wonderful animals are mammals, as they feed their young with milk. They have  two mammary glands that the baby dolphin uses to drink its milk and are located in the lower part of the animal. In addition, dolphins or cetaceans have two fins on the bottom  horizontally, which they use to take their course and direction with their heads.

On the dorsal part they have another vertical fin, which is what we see when they surface. On the back they have a large double fin, which is what they use to move underwater and reach more speed to execute their jumps out of the water.

Distinctive Characteristics of Dolphins

These mammalian animals are capable of advancing at speeds of 20 to 30 kilometers per hour, and then they make their great jumps and turns in the air. Another curious feature is that these animals do not have gills like other fish. They use lungs to take in air from the surface; they do this through a round hole in the top of their heads.

This hole is closed when they are swimming underwater and when they come to the surface they open it to take oxygen from the air. What is impressive is that they can spend up to 30 minutes swimming underwater without breathing, descending into very deep waters to take their food.

Dolphins are carnivores. They generally feed on small fish such as sardines. However, they also eat squid, octopus, crustaceans and other marine life that are easy to swallow, since they cannot eat very large prey.

In addition, they are a family of orca whales, better known as killer whales, which measure more or less 6 meters long and weigh 600 to 1,000 kilos. Dolphins are in all the world’s oceans and also in large rivers; they really like to get close to the beaches and interact with humans.

They don’t fully sleep, they just rest one side of their body for several hours, and then rest the other part or side of their bodies, but they always have one eye open. If they fell asleep in its entirety, the entire body would suffocate, since they do not have gills and their lungs take air from the surface.

Dolphin sociability

Dolphins swim in large groups to protect themselves from their predators, such as sharks and, although killer whales are families, they also eat them. Being mammals, they have a gestation period of about twelve months, and then their babies go out to breastfeed.

Because they are such sociable and affectionate animals, many people around the world have taken them from nature and keep them in large aquariums. In these aquariums they are cared for and trained to give great shows offered to children and adults; they teach them to jump and do many games, which are very fun. Not only do they entertain us, but the dolphins love these types of games.

If they have a good diet, they can last 60 years of life; therefore, it is important to know what their way of eating is like.

The Greeks discovered many years ago that dolphins are warm-blooded, so they are not normal fish. Their colors vary according to the different species and the shape of their mouth changes a bit, but generally, they are gray and light gray on the bottom.

Baby dolphins do not have flexible lips like other mammals, which is why dolphin mothers have a difficult task getting them to drink their milk. When the mother dolphin feels that her calf has its mouth on her glands, they release more milk so that this calf can swallow enough.

Instructions

Next, we will explain what dolphins eat:

1. Dolphins, when they are born, the first thing they do is take oxygen brought by their mothers to the surface. Then, they give them milk to nurse them.
2. As dolphins are carnivorous animals they eat fish, octopus and crustaceans but of small sizes.
3. In nature there are large schools of sardines which dolphins like very much to eat.
4. The dolphins gather in large pods and surround the sardines to eat large quantities and satiate themselves.
5. Almost always when they take their prey, they do it from the front so that the spines do not get stuck in their throats and pass in a better way to their stomachs.
6. Dolphins, being warm-blooded mammals, need to take in the fat from the fish they eat to stay warm.
7. This fat spreads throughout your body and is used by your metabolism to keep your blood warm.
8. When their metabolism senses that they are losing too much fat, then the dolphins get a little pickier about their food.
9. Dolphins try to eat fish and shellfish that provide more fat for their bodies.
10. In many parts of the world they are kept in captivity in large aquariums, with very high walls to prevent them from jumping and jumping out of the aquarium. In these places they have large water heaters and thermometers to maintain the right temperature and give them the amount of food they require.
11. If the water is very cold, the dolphins will eat more fish to satisfy their caloric needs.
12. If you have a baby dolphin, that you found it in the wild, abandoned without its mother;  you can easily raise it in a pool.
13. But don’t go feeding him cow’s milk; give him goat milk because it is very strong and heavy for their stomachs.
14. Prepare a bottle with a large plastic bottle that is very flexible so that you give this breath several times a day.
15. We recommend that the bottle be flexible, as we remind you that dolphins do not have flexible lips to suck milk. Once you have the bottle in their mouths, you must press the bottle so that the milk comes out with pressure and they can drink it all.
16. After this, you must locate several small fish and place them in their mouths so that they adapt to eating fish.
17. Remember that, as it is a small dolphin, you must give it small fish, because if they do not they can drown by eating and swallowing them.
18. If you don’t get small fish, you can take wheels of big fish and cut it into long, thin julienne strips so you can feed it.
19. We recommend that if you have a baby dolphin, you have a lot of contact with him, so that he feels your affection and love, since this will help his health.
20. A dolphin that is well cared for and treated with a lot of love will have an assimilation of food, in a better way and a better quality of life.
21. We recommend that you keep the water in the pool or aquarium as clean as possible;  also, you must have a separate tank to collect their see.
22. Their waste always accumulates at the bottom of the pool or aquarium, which we recommend you empty all the water and pick it up with a shovel.
23. Then, fill the pool or aquarium with water and let it sit with a substance sold at pet stores called anti-chlorine.
24. The anti-chlorine removes the chlorine from the water that companies add to disinfect it and make it portable.
25. But dolphins are very affected by chlorine, since it swells the outside of their eyes and makes them very irritated, so chlorine is not healthy for them.

What do you need:

Materials and food that dolphins need:

• Small fish of different species.
• Squid.
• Mollusks.
• Crustaceans.
• Anti-chlorine.
• Goat milk.
• Pools or aquariums.

Tips

1. If you have a dolphin in captivity, we recommend that you pay close attention to its state of mind; since they are very playful and sociable.
2. If you approach the aquarium and the dolphin does not greet you, it is because it may be a little sick or feel unwell.
3. Also, it may be that the dolphin is eating very little food and in order not to spend too much energy; it is placed in this state of relaxation.
4. It is important to check their fins, as they are sometimes hit and hurt. This prevents him from performing his normal movements.
5. In nature, when a dolphin is injured by predators or by boat propellers, the other dolphins force it to take a breath.