Rostrum: the beak area of the dolphin
Did you know? Bottlenose dolphins are mammals, meaning just like humans and all other mammals they have hair, except they only have hair for just a few days after birth before they loose it and this hair is found on the rostrum!
Melon: The bulbous portion of the dolphins head
Did you know? The melon is full of complex fat used to focus and send out sound, also known as echolocation!
Blowhole Open Blowhole Closed
Blowhole: The blowhole is equivalent to the human nose; this is how the dolphins breathe. First they expel the old air, or “blow” it out and than suck in new air before they close the blowhole to dive back down again. But their “nose” is located on their back!
Did you know? A way to tell the difference between a dolphin and a whale is the number of blowholes they have! Where whales have two, dolphins only have one.
Dorsal Fin: the main fin located on the back or “dorsal” side of the dolphin.
Did you know? The dorsal fin is unique to each individual dolphin! It is equivalent to the human finger print and dolphin researchers use it for identification to distinguish different individuals from one another.
Peduncle: the area behind the dorsal fin to the flukes.
Did you know? The peduncle is where the dolphin generates all its power and is the reason why bottlenose dolphins can swim
up to 30 miles per hour!
Fluke: The “tail” of the dolphin
Did you know? The fluke has no muscle in it at all! It actually works as a thermal window to “dump” heat when the dolphin becomes over heated!
Anus: the rectal opening of the dolphin
Did you know? Dolphin poop is usually green!
Urogenital Opening: where male or female genitalia are found.
Did you know? Male reproductive organs are actually found inside the body so researchers can’t necessarily tell if the dolphin is male or female by just taking a quick look!
Mammary Slits: just above the urogenital opening where mothers nurse their calves, and researchers collect milk samples from.
Did you know? This is where calves nurse from and gain all of the essential nutrients necessary for them to survive through the beginning stages of their lives! Also just because a dolphin has mammary slits doesn’t necessarily mean that it is female. Scientists have found an odd male with mammary slits too!
Umbilicus: the “belly button” of the dolphin
Did you know? The umbilical cord is short and stretched taut right when the forehead of the young dolphin protrudes from the mothers genital opening, which prevents the calf from drowning in its mothers own amniotic fluid before being fully expelled from her body.
Flippers: the side appendages of the dolphin
Did you know? The fins of the dolphin are actually used for steering and not for swimming! Also it is possible to use the bones in the fins to help determine age, but usually dolphins are aged by looking at their teeth.
Can you tell the difference? Which is male and which is female?
(See 2 pictures)
To tell the difference between a male and a female bottlenose dolphin is actually not as easy as one might think!
The male and female reproductive organs are actually located inside the urogenital opening. Usually if the dolphin has mammary slits it is a female; however, there have been a few cases where males have mammary slits as well! You can be sure by determining the distance between the umbilicus, genital opening and the anus. If the umbilicus, genital opening and anus are evenly spaced the dolphin is a male, if the genital opening is closer to the anus than the bottlenose dolphin is a female.
Male Bottlenose Dolphin
F
