Organism Physiology

Organism Physiology

Kingdom - Anamalia

Phylum - Cordata

Class - Mammalia

Order - Cetacea

Sub-order - Odontoceti

Family - Delphinidae

Genus - Delphinus

Species - Delphis or Dolphin

Dolphins live in all oceans and our major seas, although some dolphins are in larger river systems. This paper will give a review of the characteristics of the dolphin along with the ancestry to the modern dolphins and the adaptation that the dolphins have and will go through to show it is a survivor still today.

Dolphins are very friendly animals that use interaction due to hunting, defense, and reproduction. Herds are known as larger groups of dolphins, usually dolphins travel on 2-40 animals that are known as pods. Dolphins are carnivores that eat several different types of creatures such as fish, shrimp, lobsters, octopus, squid, crabs, and cuttlefish. Sharks and killer whales eat dolphins for their meat and fat. People are trying to evaluate the pollution that is in the water affecting the dolphins. The babies live young and get nursed with their mother's milk and care. Baby dolphins are known as calves. They are nursed up to three years of age and the mother will with her young up to eight years of life. It is believed that dolphins live up to thirty years of age. Based on the dolphins ecosystem determines what may be required for them to survive. White-sided dolphins are located in the Gulf of Alaska and have a short, rounded beak with thirty curved teeth in each side of the jaw. They have lots of energy that allow them to leap and belly flop. They are very noticeable because of their black back with gray sides and white stripes. The dorsal fin is sharply hooked and tall. As for the dolphins flippers are small and the ribs are rounded. In the center the flukes have a notch. The pacific white-sided dolphin is seven to eight feet long and can weigh up to three hundred pounds.

There are several different families that are related such as dolphins, whales, and porpoises. Forty-five to fifty million years ago dolphins were aquatic. The evidence of fossil have been found during the early Eocene epoch. Animals that looked for food where water was, went through a stage called amphibious. Dolphins are very different from other amphibians such as their skin being extremely smooth and hairless. As well the dolphins skill is quiet, thick, and lacks glands. The only way the dolphins skin is kept smooth is by its constantly sloughing off and being replaced. Most dolphins skin is replaced at a nine times faster rate than a humans skin. The only dolphins skin that is replaced every two hours is the bottlenose. The only way dolphins survive