#Delphinidae

[inatungulates]

False killer whale Pseudorca crassidens

Observed by dnoby, CC BY-NC

[mammalianmammals]

Southern Right Whale Dolphin (Lissodelphis peronii), family Delphinidae, Strait of Magellan, Chile

photographs by Pablo Cáceres

[snototter]

An orca (Orcinus orca) breaches off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, USA

by Guy Schmickle

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

Southern right whale dolphins

Oh a very cool one, hadn't seen them before! Thank you!

Photos from Gerard Bodineau & Toby Dickson, respectively.

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Nothing says 'bisexual' quite like bottlenose dolphins! Studies have shown that almost all males in this species are bisexual, and form close partnerships with other males at an early age. Male partners hunt together, play together, and even keep watch while the other sleeps. Couples remain together for most of their lives-- although typically both partners also freely mate with females during the breeding season.

(Image: A pair of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) by Lisa Morse)

[todropscience]

DOLPHIN MOMS DO 'BABY TALK' WITH THEIR CALVES

Baby talk or Motherese/ Parentese is a speech pattern nearly universal across cultures and languages in human caregivers interacting with children. It is characterized by a higher than usual pitch, exaggerated intonation, repetition, calling attention to objects and use of slow stretchy speeches. What we know about baby talking in other nonhuman species is sparse. Now, researchers have  found evidence for baby talk in bottlenose dolphin, a species that shows parallels to humans in their long-term mother–offspring bonds and lifelong vocal learning. 

Researchers analyzed audios from made wild bottlenose dolphins in waters near Sarasota Bay, Florida, United States, and found that females produced signature whistles with significantly higher maximum frequencies and wider frequency ranges when they were recorded with their own dependent calves.

This finding provide an example of convergent evolution of motherese in nonhuman mammals, and may help us understand how motherese can facilitate vocal learning and bonding in nonhumans as well as humans.

Photo by Carli Brush Stoll

Reference: Sayigh et al., 2023.  Bottlenose dolphin mothers modify signature whistles in the presence of their own calves. PNAS

[benadrylcandlewhack]

Does anyone else find it genuinely fascinating that orcas tail-slapping their prey out of the water means that they have to have some understanding of how anything would take damage from hitting the water surface from a certain height (which is wickedly impressive for an animal that lives underwater it's whole life) or do you all just jump to calling them evil because of this

[holly-natnicole]

DrawingofSakuratage13doingadolphinversionofWaterStyle:SharkBomb!!!!!

(I haven't actually drawn it yet. Will add it here as soon as I'm able to.)

[saritawolf]

Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) - (c) SaritaWolf - please do not repost

[inatungulates]

New Zealand dusky dolphin "Lagenorhynchus" obscurus ssp.

Observed by rwilkes, CC BY-NC

[internetdruid]

🥚?

hourglass dolphin!

(Lagenorhynchus cruciger)

[snototter]

An orca (Orcinus orca) breaches in Sommarøy, Norway

by Bo Eide

[crudlynaturephotos]

[muttwired]

three (3) hours till my exam this means i get to study dolphin anatomy

[saltycetaceans]

I'm actually alive, here's photos I've taken of Akai - who is one of the older dolphins at DCO and is going to be in his 50s very soon <3