Common bottlenose dolphin
Tursiops truncatus · The common bottlenose dolphin is a grey, short-beaked dolphin that lives in temperate and tropical oceans around the world, absent only from polar waters.
Also called Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Bottlenosed Dolphin.
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Taxonomy
| Kingdom | Animalia |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order | Artiodactyla |
| Family | Delphinidae |
| Genus | Tursiops |
| Species | Tursiops truncatus |
Where it lives
Warm and temperate seas worldwide, often near coasts.
Fun facts
- Bottlenose dolphins can recognize another dolphin's whistle even after being apart for over 20 years, giving them the longest social memories of any non-human species.
- Dolphins call each other by name-like signature whistles, matching a friend's whistle to address them individually.
- Mother dolphins change their signature whistle to a higher pitch when their calf is nearby, much like humans use baby talk.
- A bottlenose dolphin's neck is extra flexible because five of its seven neck vertebrae are not fused together.
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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).