Dolphins belong to the family of cetaceans which includes aquatic animals like whales and porpoises. Cetaceans have gradually evolved over millions of years to become the present-day dolphins which have large, complex brains. These large complex brains of the dolphins help them perform various functions which are usually not seen in other animals. One of these functions is human like socializing which can be seen when bottlenose dolphins form a group to hunt. By beating its tail, a bottlenose dolphin from the group stirs up the seabed and starts to make a circular ring of mud around a shoal of fish. Then, by making the ring smaller and smaller, it traps the shoal of fish. Now, another bottlenose dolphin in the group signals the remaining dolphins to line up around the circle. So, when the confused and trapped fishes try to escape by jumping out of the mud ring, they end up in the dolphins' mouths. In addition to this, although dolphins have eyes to see, they even have the ability to echolocate which can help them navigate better especially in murky water. To echolocate, dolphins produce high frequency sound waves which travel through water and get reflected from obstacles as echoes. When these echoes return to the dolphins, they are able to identify the location, shape, etc. of the obstacles. Hence, using this method, they easily avoid the obstacles and navigate in murky water. Moreover, it is also observed that using low frequency sounds, dolphins communicate with each other. They even have signature whistles, like names, which they use to call each other. According to a study, it is also believed that dolphins can recognize themselves in the mirror. This quality of physical self-awareness is not usually present in other animals. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

• published: 07 Oct 2018
• views: 321303