Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Bottlenose dolphins galore

Nature's body surfers. (from Tideland Treasures, great book, by the way)

Bottlenoses cavort in ships' wakes and near shore waters. This social mammal travels in "pods" or herds of 4 to 6. Members tend or defend wounded, sick or young. They communicate underwater by high-frequency squeaks and whistles emitted through their blowholes. Dolphin navigate and locate food by making guttural clicks and responding to echoes made when the sounds rebound from objects. This built-in sonar is known as "echolocation".

I got the above footage from the beach in front of the camp I work at. The dolphins regularly swim in this bit of the water known as the "estuary". The island across the way is known as Botany Bay. On a side note, I went kayaking there today to collect some shells. The temperature was above 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Mmmm, I'm kind of digging this weather.