Penny Wallace

Science/English

November 15, 2015

Bottlenose Dolphin

The bottlenose dolphin or Tursiops truncates is found in warm, salty open waters. The bottlenose dolphin is spotted in bays, estuaries, and harbors. Bottlenose dolphins are usually found off the southeast coast of America. The classification of this organism is that its domain is eukaryote and its kingdom is animalia. The phylum is chordata and its class is mammalia. The order to this organism is cetacea and the family is delphinidae. The genus and species, which makes up the scientific name is Tursiops truncatus.  This organisms has bilateral symmetry. The color range to this organism is from light gray to black and has a white or pale pink belly. The length can grow up to 12.5 ft. This organism looks as if is a torpedo, for its shape. It has a short break and a blowhole on top of its head. An adaptations to this organism are that it can sense echolocation which helps the bottlenose dolphin track down prey. Thas adaptation was behavioral because echolocation comes from the brain for dolphins to track down prey. Another adaptation is how bottlenose dolphins have beaks so they can reach their beak into small areas, such as coral to find prey to eat. This adaptation is functional because it is functioned to help the organism. Lastly, this organism has a caudal fin which makes this organism swim fast so it can catch up with its prey or swim away from predators. That adaptation is structural. An interesting fact about bottlenose Dolphins is that they live for 20-40 years and that this organism has lungs not gills. That is why Dolphins always come up for air. Dolphins including the bottlenose dolphin are the smartest creatures living. They are great problem solvers. Prey to this organism are invertebrates, squids, and small fishes making this organism a carnivore and a heterotroph. Predators to this organism include sharks and humans. The bottlenose dolphin is endothermic. Seeing this organism during our kayaking field trip was amazing! That was an amazing experience!

 (works cited)I got my information from:

" Bottlenose Dolphin"

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/bottlenose-dolphin/

and

http://www.chesapeakebay.net/fieldguide/critter/bottlenose_dolphin

14 November. 2015