BOTTLE-NOSE DOLPHIN. By Lauren McLean

Transcription

1 BOTTLE-NOSE DOLPHIN By Lauren McLean

2 Introduction Bottlenose Dolphins are actually small whales, and belong to the group known as 'toothed whales'. They are air breathing mammals so even though they have adapted to the marine environment, they still must come to the surface to breathe through the blowhole on top of their heads.

3 Habitat The bottlenose dolphin lives in temperate and tropical oceans all across the world, not near cold areas of the world. Coastal areas or open oceans are best for these dolphins. They can be seen within 32kms off shore in harbors in tropical rain forest areas. The pacific ocean, northern Japan, southern California, Australia and Chile are the main places that they live.

4 Changing Habitats Most of the fish caught in Australia are taken close to the coast in waters less than 50m deep, this means that dolphins can get injured by the fisherman. Some species of prey of inshore dolphins are targeted by trawl and inshore fisherman. Overfishing If not managed correctly, species of prey could become so depleted so they impact on inshore/coastal bottle-nose dolphin feeding. In long term, overfishing can impact the food chain and destroy natural habitats of so many dolphins.

5 MRS GREN Movement - yes Respiration - yes Sensitivity - yes Grow - yes Reproduce - yes Excrete - yes Nutrition - yes The bottlenose dolphin is a living thing. It moves through the ocean and respires (breathes) under water and then spirts water out of the hole on it s head as it comes up to breathe. This species of dolphin is sensitive because it feels pain if it is hurt, it feels happiness, love, etc. The bottlenose dolphin grows from a child to an adult and as it grows up it reproduces a pup/calf. Bottlenose dolphins excrete like every other organism. They also need nutrition to stay alive such as water and food.

6 Dichotomous Key A dichotomous key is a way of separating different animals based on their physical features/appearance. I separated the Bottlenose dolphin with 5 other sea creatures from the Pacific Ocean: - Bottlenose dolphin Ribbon-Seal Walrus Clownfish Killer Whale Sea-Lion

7 Ecosystems and Biomes Location: Bottlenose dolphins can be found in temperate and tropical oceans. Biotic factors within the biome: There are so many biotic factors within the temperate ocean, eg, Dolphins, whales, sharks, crabs, fish, plankton, seaweed etc. The different ecosystems within the biome: There are many different ecosystems within the tropical ocean biome. The 4 main ecosystems are the intertidal zone, coral reef, sunlit zone and twilight zone. Climate: Because the temperate ocean biome is so large, the climate and temperature varies. Most of the time it is between 10 C - 18 C but it is warmest near the equator where the sun directly hits. The weather of the marine biome is very harsh, due to the ocean currents. These ocean currents can create hurricanes and typhoons. Abiotic factors within the biome: Abiotic factors are as easy to find as biotic factors eg, sand, water, sunlight, temperature, oxygen, soil, etc. The interactions within the biome: the main interaction that occurs in the tropical ocean, is between the process of photosynthesis (when the sun and carbon dioxide is converted into food) and phytoplankton. Without these 2 things interacting, the aquatic food web/chain wouldn t exist. That process occurs in the sunlit zone- the top layer of the biome.

8 Food Web This food web represents the food chain but with a larger variety of organisms. Predators: Sharks are the primary natural predator of bottlenose dolphins. Bull sharks, tiger sharks, dusky sharks and great white sharks are the most common predators for bottlenose dolphins. Prey: A bottlenose dolphin's diet usually consists of a wide variety of foods including fish, squid and crustaceans. An adult dolphin usually eats kg of food each day.

9 Food Chain The food chain shows that the sun is the energy, the phytoplankton gets it s energy from it and becomes the producer. The zooplankton eats the phytoplankton, then the squid eats the zooplankton, the bottlenose dolphin etas the squid and killer whale eats the bottlenose dolphin. The sun Phytoplankton Killer Whale Bottlenose Dolphin Zooplankton Squid

10 Taxonomy & Classification KINGDOM- Animalia PHYLUM- Chordata CLASS- Mammalia ORDER- Cetacea FAMILY- Delphinidae GENUS- Tursiops SPECIES- Truncatus My acronym: K- Kate P- Phoned C- Cacy O- On F- Friday G- Generally S- Speaking The bottlenose dolphin is a vertebrate. A vertebrate is an animal with a back bone. Classification: Mammal A bottlenose dolphin is a mammal because t hey breathe air directly into their lungs, they have hair at some point during their life cycle, they are warmblooded, they give birth to live young and they give milk to their pups.

11 Conclusion In conclusion, the bottlenose dolphin lives in the temperate/tropical oceans around the world and is near the top of the food chain. These animals eat a wide variety of fish, crustaceans and squid and are the prey of killer whales and sharks. They are mainly affected by over-fishing in their habitat which can have some severe and permanent outcomes. Bottlenose dolphins are living animals because they follow every component of MRS GREN. The different ecosystems of the temperate ocean biome.

12 BIBLIOGRAPHY Enchantedlearning.com. (2016). Sunlit Ocean (Euphotic) Zone - EnchantedLearning.com. [online] Available at: [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016]. Entertainment, S. (2016). [online] Seaworld.org. Available at: Dolphin [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016]. Entertainment, S. (2016). [online] Seaworld.org. Available at: [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016]. Institute, G. (2016). Comparing Oceans - Temperate versus Tropical Seas. [online] Gma.org. Available at: [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016]. Kids.nceas.ucsb.edu. (2016). KDE Santa Barbara. [online] Available at: [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016]. Marine Biome. (2016). Climate and Weather. [online] Available at: [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016]. prezi.com. (2016). Temperate Ocean Biome. [online] Available at: [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016]. Sites.google.com. (2016). Abiotic Factors and Biotic Factors - Oceans. [online] Available at: [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016].