Dolphins are mammals that are contracted by toothed whales, breathe lightly and feed their babies milk. They live in sea waters and oceans, sometimes found in rivers with access to the sea.
Dolphin is considered a warm-blooded animal, its body temperature should always be within 36.6 degrees C. To reach this level, it should eat about 30 kg of food per day. Dolphins have more than 100 teeth that do not take any part in chewing food. Animals swallow food whole.
Scientists have not yet really learned the whole process of eating food, how to prepare it with these animals, and also did not fully consider the question of what dolphins eat. Presumably, these smart animals created their own civilization, which is not yet possible to understand, but much is already known, as described below.
What do dolphins eat from the first days of life?
The mother-dolphin feeds her cubs for the first time six hours after birth. The feeding process takes place shallow under water. Since the baby does not have soft lips, he can not suck on his own. Milk enters his mouth with a strong stream by injection. In the very first days of his life, a little dolphin receives mother's milk up to eight times in an hour, so it lasts all day. Then the intervals between feedings gradually increase.
Dolphin milk is nutritious, it contains about 33% fat and 7% protein. Water and lactose make up nearly 58%. Eating such food, a small dolphin grows rapidly, builds up a thick layer of fat, at the age of one and a half years it begins to taste fish for the first time and gradually begins to independently obtain its own food.
What do dolphins like to eat in the seas and oceans?
In their habitats, in the seas and waters of the oceans, dolphins try to be where the fish live. They are very picky in food, which is necessary - they don’t eat, they prefer only a certain type of food.
It is not worth talking about the sense of taste, because very little is known about it. But knowing the characteristics of the brain, cranial nerves, one can guess some taste sensations of animals and what dolphins eat. After all, they prefer only a certain type of fish. Our scientists conducted experiments and proved that dolphins have taste bulbs on their tongues, which means they definitely have taste sensations.
Dolphin eats fish in large quantities. During the day, he eats it a lot. Fish is his favorite food. This includes almost all types of marine fish: horse mackerel and herring, mackerel, saury and hake, flounder, mullet, hamsa. In addition to the above, squid, shellfish and crustaceans are a favorite treat.
When kept in dolphinariums and zoos, animals are given what dolphins eat in their natural habitat. The trainer knows the tastes of his ward, but he must also know how much food the dolphin needs and in what form to feed it. In this regard, a professional working with animals does not trust feeding anyone, leaves this work to himself.
The amount of food needed by adult animals is estimated at 4–5% of body weight, and about 8% of nursing mothers. It is known that beluga whales need 25–30 kg of fish per day; bottlenose dolphins need 10–15 kg of fish products per day.
For the reason that dolphins are considered hunters, when feeding in dolphinariums, it is necessary to make food (prey) move. But in captivity they are accustomed to frozen products. Favorite food for dolphins in this habitat are squids and fish.
Dolphins have a wide range of sounds. There are several dozen of them, they are spread far into the sea and this helps animals communicate with each other. These are moans, creaks, whistles, clicks, tweets … Can you ask what sound dolphins make when they eat? During the meal, a sound is made - meow.
How do dolphins get their food?
The dolphin’s food strategy is diverse. Most often, hunting occurs in the daytime, only when there is a shortage of fish, you have to hunt at night. Not a whole flock is involved in night fishing, but only some individuals, catching fish that lead a nocturnal lifestyle on the seabed.
During hunting in the open sea, a herd of dolphins tries to surround a school of fish and compact it. Then they go into it one by one and are quite saturated with food. When food is taken off the coast, animals drive their trophy in shallow water, closer to land. They sometimes hunt large fish alone, with their tail tossing their prey above the water, catching it in their mouth or jamming it.
Dolphins are considered good hunters. They have a special structure of fins and skin, as well as a streamlined body shape. Thanks to these features, anaphiles can swim very quickly, not inferior even to the smartest inhabitants of the sea and ocean water expanses. The maximum speed is up to 40 km per hour, the immersion depth of some species of dolphins is about 260 meters. Probably everyone knows their jumps, in the horizontal direction they are able to "fly" about 9 meters, in the vertical - about 5 meters.
