Dolphins: Playful Ocean Pals

By: M.A.

Where do dolphins live and why?

What do dolphins eat and drink?

• Dolphins along the coast eat bottom-dwelling creatures and fish

• Open water dolphins eat fish, squid, and crustaceans

• Get water from their bodies and the fish they eat

• Need very little water to survive • Do not chew food and swallow it hole• Feed on schools of fish or fish under logs• Some dolphins use echolocation to find food

• Yangtze has poor eyesight so uses echolocation to find food in mucky water

• Bottlenose dolphins mainly feed on bottom- dwelling fish

Are some kinds of dolphins becoming rare? Why?

• killed by tuna fishermen • only predator is a large sharks• Suffering from industrial and shipping

development • Only 90 left in the wild before net fishing

was band in upper Mekong river• Now making a comeback and there is

now 160 dolphins• Sometimes hunted for food• Sometimes too many are killed in 1 area• Have bigger threats from fishermen that

spread large nets for shrimp, swordfish, and other seafood

• Sometimes get tangled in nets and drown

Before Ban After Ban0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Number of Dolphins

Dolphins in Upper Mekong

• Pollution and global warming can also affect dolphins

• The Beigi was becoming extinct from lots of hooks

Lets give a special thanks to: The encyclopedia! The almanac! Books!And the internet!

About the author:The author who wrote this was inspired to write about dolphins because of her love of the ocean and the movie Dolphin Tale. She has 6 pets, 2 fish, 2 guinea pigs, 2 hermit crabs. She has an awesome mom and dad and a crazy but beloved sister. She goes to Oak Grove Elementary school and is in 4th grade. She has a teacher named Ms. Mink and 23 classmates. To finish up the story, she loves writing and hopes to find out more about dolphins and hopes to share the info with you!