Bottlenose dolphins are generally found in the world’s temperate and tropical waters.

Some populations can also be found in bays, estuaries, river mouths, coastal waters as well as

offshore waters. They are found primarily coastal but also found throughout all oceans, however,

temperature seems to limit the range at where they are found either directly or indirectly through

distribution of prey (Wells and Scott 1999). Majority of the bottlenose dolphins are found living

near harbors and estuaries and has a worldwide distribution that ranges from 45°N to 45°S. They

usually travel in groups and live all around the Black, Mediterranean and Baltic seas as well as

the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. There are two subspecies of the bottlenose dolphin, …show more content…
Foraging & Diving

Bottlenose dolphins consume a large variety of fish, squids and sometimes crustaceans

such as shrimps. They eat about 5% of their body weight per day. They are known to be

generalist where they are able to exploit a diverse diet that is within their habitat. Their forage

pattern is usually individually but can also feed cooperatively. Depending on the sex and size of

the dolphins, they sometimes group feed. Adults are usually seen feeding farther offshore while

the lactating females and calves are seen feeding near shore (Wells and Scott, 2009). Calves

learn foraging behaviors by observing their mothers and these foraging behaviors/patterns can be

spread throughout a population simply by observing. Their feeding patterns depend on the type

of prey that they consume such as kerplunking, fish whacking, feeding along seawalls, strand

feeding on mud-banks or even mud-ring feeding. Sometimes, they even take advantage of

human activities in order to assist their prey capture. They generally do not have to dive deep in

order to find their prey. Some preys are bottom dwellers, which are consumed by