As we know, dolphins are mammals, a class of vertebrates characterized by having mammary glands that after breeding produce nutritious milk for nourishing the offspring, and this is one of the reasons why the young always stay close to their mother.

A baby is defenseless and does not have the strength or size needed to face some predators, another important reason why they do not separate from its mother and swim just beside her, following its movements and learning about their environment.

The bond between them makes the calf imitate and learn the behaviors and techniques for hunting from its mother and other members of the pod so that in the future he can survive alone and teach its offspring.

Bottlenose Dolphin in Park

Beautiful Bottlenose Dolphin in Aquarium

Dolphin Mother and Calf

Bottlenose Dolphins in Marineland d’Antibes in France

Image Courtesy of: Arnaud 25 & Jean Loup P

There are several reasons why some dolphin species are in the “Endangered Species” category according to the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Among these are intentional killing for commercial purposes, increasing mortality produced by fishing materials abandoned at sea, either by entanglement or by ingestion of debris, ship traffic that causes noise pollution and injuries by contact, toxic contaminants and coastal development projects that disturb populations and damage marine ecosystems where they get their food.

Examples of species in danger of extinction are the Hector dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) and the Ganges dolphin (Platanista gangetica). The baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) continues within the classification “Critically endangered, ” but most scientists believe that they are already extinct.

Regardless the reasons behind getting a dolphin into captivity, it is important to know that dolphins do not like captivity.

Dolphins are captured by humans mainly for three purposes:

1. Display and entertainment.
2. Research
3. Military

While scientists have been more and more conscious of having dolphins in captivity, there is a large number still on research facilities, however lately scientists make more experiments on wild dolphins.

There are not records for the capture and research by Military because of the secret nature of the experimentation.

Besides the common predators like big sharks and occasionally killer whales, humans are the top killers of dolphin. If dolphins could figure it out, we would be considered their worst enemy.

The human activities that kill dolphins are fishing because dolphins get trapped in the nets while they try to catch tuna or some other species.

Also, human pollution is a huge threat for dolphins causing them to choke by eating debris or by damaging their senses and making them easy prey for sharks.

The excessive noise product of human activities in the ocean is also a threat to dolphins, as noise can kill dolphins or at least confuse them causing massive beach stranding.

There are several organizations which are devoted to protecting dolphins. However, they have no further authority than exposing the atrocities made by humans and some groups against dolphins.

Among the best-known institutions, you can find Green Peace, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, the Mediterranean Dolphin Conservation and some others.

Mothers nourish recently born dolphins and feed them with milk produced by the former.

In some cases, another female dolphin helps the mother to deliver the calf and to take care of it during the initial years of its life.

Calves stay with their mothers until they are six years old, giving them enough time to learn from their mothers the necessary skills to survive.