Tag: #dolphins

The Characteristics Of A Dolphin

Marine life is pretty vast and mysterious. We have only yet discovered about 3 percent of our oceans. So there is a large space left to our imaginations. Many species of aquatic life reside in the oceans. There are phytoplankton for trees, oxygen mixed with water for inhalation, sharks and whales for predators, small fishes for prey and many more. One of the curious things is….How do dolphins breathe?Well for that first we have to see what makes us,humans different from dolphins in the race of respiration

  • Human respiration

Now, we are terrestrial animals and mammals. Our breathing when we sleep is slightly different from dolphins. We humans have our reflexes which makes us continue breathing even when we are unconscious (sleeping).Yes, the breathing is just 15 percent of when we are actually awake but the breathing process is automatic and continuous.

Source: Nursecepts

  • Dolphins

Now, dolphins are some interesting creatures.They are mammals, like us. So they don’t really have any bills like fishes do. Meaning they can’t breathe the oxygen which is dissolved in water but completely depend on atmospheric oxygen .Which is why they have to come up regularly, from the water to breathe in the oxygen. But the actual problem and the question arises when dolphins want to sleep! How does a dolphin breathe when it’s asleep? Anyways it has to breathe for his functions to work properly…

From: Pexels

  • When they are asleep

When dolphins sleep, they do something very interesting. For that we have to see the body structure of a dolphin. We all agree that a brain has 2 parts. So what happens is, dolphins have their left brain connected to the right eye and the right brain connected to the left eye. Basically, it allows one half of a brain to sleep at a time. So, only half of the brain is unconscious while the other remains awake. So, if the left brain is resting, and the right eye is closed, is the left eye still open? Yes! As the left brain is still awake,the right eye remains open. Don’t get confused:1. Left eye- connected to the right brain.  2. Right eye- connected to the left brain.

From: Jeremy Bishop

So if one pair of the brain and eye are sleeping, the other part remains awake and continues to do the normal activities like breathing. Sometimes, they can even be seen swimming gently and steadily while the other part remains unconscious. The dolphins cannot sleep in complete unconsciousness because then they will drown because they constantly need oxygen for staying alive. This process continues periodically until both the parts have rested and the dolphin continues to do it’s normal work.This process also has a name – unihemispheric sleep because they sleep with semi- unconsciousness. Meaning, only one brain sleeps at a time. Sometimes, it sleeps on the sea bed and arise constantly for air to breathe. Now, you never mess with a sleeping dolphin, because they are never completely unconscious and when you are disturbing them, the conscious part of Their brain and the unconscious  part awakens , starting to chase you, and that will not be pleasant. According to EEG at average, a dolphin sleeps for probably 8 hours. That can be under water for about 8 to 10 minutes, maximum- 15 minutes.

Their nostrils are called blow holes which are present just top of their heads. They also have the ability to alter their surroundings.

Source:Photo by HAMID ELBAZ 

Fun fact- After humans, dolphins come second in the property of the development of brain because they have complex abilities like problem solving, forming social groups etc.

Blow holes are closed when underwater. Hence, preventing the dolphins surviving, underwater. But haven’t they adapted themselves to grow gills and breathe? No, they adapted themselves to survive with this procedure. Well, good for us isn’t it?

But one should know that dolphins which are untrained (wild) are not to be played with. Cases can go up to lacerations (deep cuts) and broken bones as well. This is because wild dolphins like to kill just for fun. In fact, it’s in their emotions which have a property to kill or harm without any particular reason. It is advised that one must not act carelessly with Dolphins.  

As usual, being precautions can be the only solution  in front of a  dolphin🐬

We will launch ‘Project Dolphin’ for protecting ocean and Gangetic dolphins : PM MODI

The Gangetic dolphins have been declared as the National Aquatic Animal of India. This decision was first taken in the meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) chaired by then Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh on 5th October, 2009.

Ganges river dolphins once lived in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India and Bangladesh. But the species is extinct from most of its early distribution ranges. The Ganges river dolphin can only live in freshwater and is essentially blind.

Ten years after Gangetic dolphins were declared National aquatic animals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on 15th August, 2020 a conservation project for the species. This conservation project is named as the Project Dolphin’.

This project aims to give a stronger impetus for conservation of the aquatic mammals in the lines of ‘Project Tiger’ – a tiger conservation programme launched in April 1973 and ‘Project Elephant’ launched in 1992 to provide financial and technical support to wildlife management efforts by states for their free-ranging populations of Wild Asian Elephants.

According to the environment ministry, the project envisages to address conservation concerns and empower the stakeholders such as the river-dependant population in reducing the pollution and allowing sustainable fishery and river-based other livelihood options through scientifically oriented conservation methods. Implementation of the “Project Gangetic Dolphin” envisions a healthy river ecosystem not only protecting the biodiversity of the river but also taking into consideration the well-being of the people depending on its resources.

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on India’s 74th Independence Day, Modi said, “We will launch ‘Project Dolphin’ for protecting ocean and Gangetic dolphins”. It may be mentioned here that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Changes has made elaborate plans to launch the 10-year project ‘Gangetic Dolphin’ led by Environment Minster Prakash Javadekar.

The Gangetic river dolphin is a species of freshwater dolphins primarily found in the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers and their tributaries in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Ganges river dolphins prefer deep waters, in and around the confluence of rivers. The distribution range of the Ganges river dolphins in India covers seven states namely Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

There are around 3700 Gangetic River Dolphins in Indian river systems, according to official figures. The Ganga dolphin is one of only three freshwater dolphins left in the world. There are about 1800 left in the Indian part of the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin, down from about 4500 as recently as 1982. There may be around 600 more left in Bangladesh, a few in Nepal, all part of the same basin. In Bhutan, the fourth country in the basin, the Ganga dolphin has not been seen for many years.

The Ganga dolphin is given the highest level of protection possible under the 1972 Indian Wildlife Protection Act. It is categorised as “endangered” by the International Union for conservation of Nature.

As river dolphins acts as indicators of healthy river ecosystems, their conservation would also ensure controlling river pollution and improving the availability of fishes and enhancing economies of local communities through sustainable fishery, the ministry said. They were declared National Aquatic Species in 2010.