Common Dolphin - Natural History

Natural History

Common dolphins live in both warm-temperate and tropical waters ranging from 40-60°N to 50°S. Long-beaked common dolphins mostly inhabit shallow, warm costal water. Short-beaked common dolphins are common "along shelf edges and in areas with sharp bottom relief such as seamounts and escarpments". Common dolphin have a varied diet consisting of many species of fish and squid. This includes both mesopelagic species and epipelagic schooling species. They have been recorded to make dives up to 200 metres (660 ft) deep.

Common dolphins can live in aggregations of hundreds or even thousands of dolphins. They sometimes associate with other dolphin species, such as pilot whales. They have also been observed bow riding on baleen whales, and they also bow ride on boats. They are fast swimmers (up to 60 km/h), and breaching behavior and aerial acrobatics are common with this species. parvathy s nair 5 a The Short-beaked common dolphin has a gestation period of 10 to 11 months. The newborn calf has a length of between 70 and 100 centimetres (2.3 and 3.3 ft) and weights about 10 kilograms (22 lb). For the Black Sea population, weaning occurs at between 5 and 6 months, but occurs later (up to about 19 months) in other areas. Typical interbirth interval ranges from 1 year for the Black Sea population to 3 years for eastern Pacific Ocean populations. Age of sexual maturity also varies by location, but can range between 2 and 7 years for females and 3 and 12 years for males. There is no evidence of any major reproductive differences between the two species. In captivity, the long-beaked common dolphin has hybridized with the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). One of the hybrids has been bred back to a bottlenose dolphin, demonstrating that such hybrids are fertile.