Bottlenose dolphin
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This article is about the genus of bottlenose dolphins. For the specific species, see Common Bottlenose Dolphin.
Bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphin breaching in the bow wave of a boat

Size comparison against an average human
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Cetacea
Family:
Delphinidae
Genus:
TursiopsGervais 1855

Bottlenose dolphin range (in blue)
Species
See text
Bottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Recent molecular studies show the genus contains two species, the Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus), where previous thought was that this was one species. Bottlenose dolphins inhabit warm and temperate seas worldwide.
Bottlenose dolphins are grey in color and can be between 2 and 4 metres (6.6 and 13 ft) long, and weigh between 150 and 650 kilograms (330 and 1,400 lb). Their most distinguishing feature is the elongated snout, the rostrum, which gives the animal its common name. Like all whales and dolphins, though, the snout is not the functional nose; rather, the functional nose is the blowhole on the top of its head.
Bottlenose dolphins live in groups called pods that typically number about 15 dolphins, but group size varies from solitary bottlenose dolphins up to groups of over 100 or even occasionally over 1000 animals. Their diet consists mainly of small fish. Dolphin groups often work as a team to harvest schools of fish, but they also hunt individually. Dolphins search for prey primarily using echolocation, which is similar to sonar. They emit clicking sounds and listen for the return echo to determine the location and shape of nearby items, including potential prey. Bottlenose dolphins also use sound for communication. Sounds used for communication include squeaks and whistles emitted from the blowhole and sounds emitted through body language, such as leaping from the water and slapping their tails on the water.
There have been numerous investigations of bottlenose dolphin intelligence. Such testing has included tests of mimicry, use of artificial language, object categorization and self-recognition. This intelligence has driven considerable interaction with humans. Bottlenose dolphins are popular from aquarium shows and television programs such as Flipper. They have also been trained by militaries for tasks such as locating sea mines or detecting and marking enemy divers. In some areas they cooperate with local fishermen by driving fish towards the fishermen and eating the fish that escape the fishermen's nets. Some interactions with humans are harmful to the dolphins: people hunt bottlenose dolphins for food, and dolphins are killed inadvertently as a bycatch of tuna fishing.