Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins tend to live in shal­low water near the shore at depths of less than 300 m. The habi­tat of some Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins is es­tu­ar­ine but spa­tial dis­tri­b­u­tion of dol­phins varies de­pend­ing on sea­son and tidal state. These vari­ables in­flu­ence water tem­per­a­ture and prey dis­tri­b­u­tion. (Fury and Har­ri­son, 2008; Fury and Har­ri­son, 2011; Kogi, et al., 2004; Kuri­hara and Oda, 2007; Nowak, 2003; Saay­man, et al., 1973; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006)

• Biogeographic Regions
• indian ocean
  • native
• pacific ocean
  • native

Habi­tat

Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins tend to live in shal­low water near the shore at depths of less than 300 m. With rapid gas ex­change at the cap­il­lar­ies, dou­ble the amount of ery­thro­cytes, and about 2 to 9 times the amount of myo­glo­bin of land an­i­mals, dol­phins are able to al­ter­nate be­tween no breath­ing while deep div­ing and nor­mal breath­ing while swim­ming along the sur­face. (Fury and Har­ri­son, 2011; Kogi, et al., 2004; Mar­tin, et al., 2001; Nowak, 2003; Vaughan, et al., 2011)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• saltwater or marine

• Aquatic Biomes
• reef
• coastal
• brackish water

• Other Habitat Features
• estuarine

• Range depth

  2 to 300 m

  6.56 to 984.25 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Tur­siops adun­cus are sim­i­lar to Tur­siops trun­ca­tus in form with a fusiform body, dor­sal fin, and beak. The dor­sal sur­face is slate blue or dark gray, with darker flip­pers and ex­trem­i­ties and lighter, often pink-tinted, un­der­sides. Pat­tern­ing and ven­tral spot­ting vary by age and ge­o­graphic lo­ca­tion. A re­cent study has claimed that ven­tral spot­ting may be a sign of re­pro­duc­tive ma­tu­rity, es­pe­cially in fe­males. (Krzyszczyk and Mann, 2012; Nowak, 2003; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006; Vaughan, et al., 2011)

Adult Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins have a head and body length be­tween 175 and 400 cm, a pec­toral fin length of about 23 cm, and a tail fluke ex­panse of 60 cm. Their weight is about 230 kg. Adult fe­male Tur­siops adun­cus have been mea­sured to be 200 cm in length in cer­tain re­gions, while adult males are usu­ally longer and heav­ier than fe­males. Fe­males have a sin­gle ex­ter­nal open­ing and males have dis­tinct anal and gen­i­tal open­ings. (Kogi, et al., 2004; Mann, et al., 2000; Nowak, 2003; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006; Vaughan, et al., 2011)

Like most bot­tlenosed dol­phins, Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenose dol­phins have con­i­cal, sin­gle-rooted, uni­cus­pid, ho­mod­ont teeth that are about 1 cm in di­am­e­ter. How­ever, tooth counts alone usu­ally can­not be used to dif­fer­en­ti­ate T. adun­cus and T. trun­ca­tus. In gen­eral, bot­tlenosed dol­phins have be­tween 20 and 28 teeth on each side of the jaw. An­other cra­nial fea­ture is the con­cav­ity of the top of the ros­trum be­tween the an­te­rior edge of the nares and the dis­tal tip of the pre­max­il­lae. (Kuri­hara and Oda, 2007; Mar­tin, et al., 2001; Nowak, 2003)

There are a num­ber of phys­i­cal dif­fer­ences be­tween T. trun­ca­tus and T. adun­cus. Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins can be dis­tin­guished from T. trun­ca­tus by ven­tral spot­ting in adult spec­i­mens which in­creases with age, a longer, bet­ter-de­fined ros­trum, a smaller melon, and, in some cases, more teeth. Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins also have a smaller body, a smaller head, and larger flip­pers than T. trun­ca­tus. They have a more slen­der ros­trum that is ta­pered more abruptly near the base and taller and broader-based dor­sal fins rel­a­tive to other bot­tlenosed dol­phins. How­ever, these dif­fer­ences are vari­able, which can make it dif­fi­cult to dis­tin­guish them in areas of over­lap. (Kogi, et al., 2004; Kuri­hara and Oda, 2007; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006)

With rapid gas ex­change at the cap­il­lar­ies, dou­ble the amount of ery­thro­cytes, and about 2 to 9 times the amount of myo­glo­bin of land an­i­mals, dol­phins are able to al­ter­nate be­tween no breath­ing while deep div­ing and nor­mal breath­ing while swim­ming along the sur­face. (Mar­tin, et al., 2001)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Average mass

  230 kg

  506.61 lb

• Range length

  175 to 400 cm

  68.90 to 157.48 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins are one of the few mam­mal species in which males co­op­er­ate with other males to allow for eas­ier mat­ing with fe­males. Males form al­liances with one to three other , po­ten­tially un­re­lated, males. These male groups herd fe­males for mat­ing, some­times called “mate guard­ing.” Sin­gle males may also at­tempt to guard fe­males for mat­ing. Breed­ing fe­males also form groups. Smaller fe­male groups are eas­ier to de­fend, whereas larger groups of fe­males are dif­fi­cult to de­fend. Male and fe­male dol­phins tend to mate with more than one part­ner. Cop­u­la­tion usu­ally oc­curs when the dol­phins are po­si­tioned belly to belly in the same di­rec­tion. (Möller, et al., 2001; Reynolds, et al., 2000)

• Mating System
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)
• cooperative breeder

Fe­male re­pro­duc­tive suc­cess de­pends on the depth of the water; shal­low water al­lows for eas­ier de­tec­tion of preda­tors and re­duced pre­da­tion over­all by sharks. Fe­males reach re­pro­duc­tive ma­tu­rity be­tween 7 and 12 years of age, this mat­u­ra­tion is com­mu­ni­cated to males by freck­ling on the ven­tral re­gion. Males reach re­pro­duc­tive ma­tu­rity be­tween 9 and 13 years. The ges­ta­tion pe­riod is about 12 months. (Krzyszczyk and Mann, 2012; Mann, et al., 2000; Nowak, 2003; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006)

At birth, Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins are be­tween 0.8 and 1.1 m in length and be­tween 9 and 21 kg. Young are born tail first and are able to swim im­me­di­ately. The high­est rates of births are from Oc­to­ber to De­cem­ber. The lac­ta­tion pe­riod lasts for about 18 months in cap­tiv­ity and about 32 months in the wild. The teats are en­closed in slits along the uro­gen­i­tal open­ing. The mean wean­ing age is 3.5 years. How­ever, a study in Aus­tralia found a wean­ing age rang­ing from 2.7 to 8 years. Adult fe­males, in a sam­ple pop­u­la­tion off the coast of Mikura Is­land, Japan, give birth once every 3 to 4 years. (Kogi, et al., 2004; Mann, et al., 2000; Nowak, 2003; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006; Vaughan, et al., 2011)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Female Indo-Pacific bottlenosed dolphins breed every 4 to 6 years.

• Breeding season

  The breeding season typically ranges from September to January. However, breeding may occur throughout the year.

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Average gestation period

  12 months

• Average weaning age

  42 months

• Average time to independence

  4 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  7 to 12 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  9 to 13 years

Adult fe­male Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins in­vest a great deal of time and at­ten­tion in their calves. Even after wean­ing, calves stay with their moth­ers for an­other one to three years. (Mann, et al., 2000; Reynolds, et al., 2000; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006)

Adult male Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins pro­vide lit­tle or no parental care, in­stead max­i­miz­ing their mat­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties. Males some­times co­op­er­ate to de­fend groups of fe­males. (Möller, et al., 2001)

• Parental Investment
• precocial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• post-independence association with parents

Lifes­pan/Longevity

The av­er­age lifes­pan of the Indo-Pa­cific Bot­tlenose dol­phin in the wild is more than 40 years, while the av­er­age age of adult males and fe­males in the wild is 19 years and 26 years, re­spec­tively. The old­est known dol­phins in the wild are a 39 year old male and a 49 year old fe­male. (Kli­nowska and Cook, 1991; Nowak, 2003; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  39 for male, 49 for female (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  40+ years

Be­hav­ior

Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins are so­cially and be­hav­iorally sim­i­lar to com­mon bot­tlenosed dol­phins and oc­ca­sion­ally form pods with com­mon bot­tlenosed dol­phins and less often with Indo-Pa­cific hump­back dol­phins. Most Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenose dol­phins spend their lives in schools or pods of be­tween 5 and 15 dol­phins to help with hunt­ing, preda­tor avoid­ance, and re­pro­duc­tion. They have been ob­served, in the wild and in cap­tiv­ity, play­ing by chas­ing and splash­ing each other and some have linked this be­hav­ior with learn­ing. In these pods, there is a so­cial hi­er­ar­chy where the largest dol­phin is usu­ally the most dom­i­nant. In the wild there are also same sex groups, es­pe­cially in subadult groups, that later join larger pods. They are usu­ally less so­cial and more shy than com­mon bot­tlenosed dol­phins. They are less fre­quently ob­served at the sur­face and make less fre­quent leaps from the water. (Nowak, 2003; Reynolds, et al., 2000; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006; Vaughan, et al., 2011)

• Key Behaviors
• natatorial
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• social
• dominance hierarchies

• Range territory size

  15 to 85 km^2

Home Range

Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins ex­hibit site fi­delity and have well-es­tab­lished home ranges. Most males and fe­males re­main in their natal home range until ma­tu­rity. In the Pa­cific, home ranges tend to be found around an is­land. Home ranges can be up to 85 square km, how­ever the range de­pends on gen­der and may change sea­son­ally. Den­sity es­ti­mates are re­ported to range from 0.06 to 4.80 per sq km. (Möller, et al., 2001; Nowak, 2003)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

It has been ar­gued that the large and con­vo­luted brain of Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins al­lows for greater in­tel­li­gence and higher-or­der learn­ing. They com­mu­ni­cate via au­di­tory per­cep­tion. While their sense of sight is not well-de­vel­oped, their sense of hear­ing is keen and im­por­tant in echolo­ca­tion. Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins gen­er­ate ul­tra­sonic clicks and in­ter­pret the re­turn­ing sig­nals to per­ceive ob­jects in their en­vi­ron­ment. Each dol­phin also uses a char­ac­ter­is­tic whis­tle that helps other iden­tify them in­di­vid­u­ally. Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins also com­mu­ni­cate via tac­tile sig­nals. Most often, flip­pers are rubbed over the flip­pers or bod­ies of other dol­phins of the same sex and age. Flip­per rub­bing is ob­served be­tween op­po­site sexes around mat­ing and be­tween moth­ers and calves. (Mar­tin, et al., 2001; Nowak, 2003; Sakai, et al., 2006; Vaughan, et al., 2011)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• ultrasound
• echolocation
• vibrations
• chemical

Food Habits

Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins have a diet con­sist­ing of mainly bony fish and, to a lesser de­gree, cephalopods. While they eat a wide va­ri­ety of fish species, the ma­jor­ity of their diet is com­posed of just a few species, which varies re­gion­ally. In cap­tiv­ity these dol­phins eat 6 to 7 kg of food per day. They hunt co­op­er­a­tively and for­ag­ing be­hav­ior is char­ac­ter­ized by shal­low dives mul­ti­ple times per minute. In shal­low water they hunt by using sev­eral meth­ods, in­clud­ing “kick­ing” fish into the sand with their tails and chas­ing small fish up on to the shore. While feed­ing and trav­el­ing they leap from the water reg­u­larly. Hunt­ing and feed­ing occur most fre­quently in the morn­ing and af­ter­noon. (Amir, et al., 2005; Nowak, 2003; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006; Vaughan, et al., 2011)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • piscivore

• Animal Foods
• fish
• mollusks

Pre­da­tion

Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins are hunted by at least 10 species of sharks. These preda­tors may have played an im­por­tant role in the evo­lu­tion of so­cial be­hav­ior in bot­tlenosed dol­phins. By trav­el­ing in groups, they are less vul­ner­a­ble to preda­tors. Hu­mans are also preda­tors be­cause bot­tlenosed dol­phins are hunted and cap­tured for food and en­ter­tain­ment. Their coun­ter­shaded color pat­tern also helps to make them harder to see in ma­rine en­vi­ron­ments. (Hei­thaus, 2001; Mann, et al., 2000; Reynolds, et al., 2000)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias)
  • tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier)
  • bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas)
  • sixgill sharks (Hexanchus griseus)
  • sevengill sharks (Notorynchus cepedianus)
  • dusky sharks (Carcharhinus obscurus)
  • oceanic whitetip sharks (Carcharhinus longimanus)
  • mako sharks (Isurus oxyrinchus)
  • Pacific sleeper sharks (Somniosus pacificus)
  • Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins are preda­tors of many species of bony fish and squid in coastal trop­i­cal wa­ters. Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins are prey of many species of sharks. They often act as hosts for par­a­sites and bar­na­cles. Semi-par­a­sitic bar­na­cles can at­tach to their skin, caus­ing ir­ri­ta­tions and drag as they swim. (Amir, et al., 2005; Hei­thaus, 2001; Per­rin, et al., 2008)

• Ecosystem Impact
• keystone species

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

At some sites, Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins have been ha­bit­u­ated to the pres­ence of human swim­mers. At Mikura Is­land, Japan, there is a dol­phin swim pro­gram in the sum­mer that began in the 1990’s. Bot­tlenosed dol­phins are com­mon in ma­rine ex­hibits and zoos. They can be eas­ily trained to per­form agile dis­plays and to play with and lo­cate ob­jects. How­ever, Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins are gen­er­ally more shy and less in­quis­i­tive than other bot­tlenosed dol­phins. Like other ma­rine mam­mals, the lifes­pan of these dol­phins in cap­tiv­ity is sig­nif­i­cantly shorter than in the wild and there are sig­nif­i­cant eth­i­cal con­cerns with keep­ing such large, in­tel­li­gent mam­mals in cap­tive con­di­tions. (Kogi, et al., 2004; Mar­tin, et al., 2001; Nowak, 2003; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006)

• Positive Impacts
• food
• ecotourism
• research and education

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of Tur­siops adun­cus on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Hunt­ing and shark nets have his­tor­i­cally threat­ened pop­u­la­tions of bot­tlenosed dol­phins be­cause these dol­phins, es­pe­cially Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins, pre­fer shal­low coastal wa­ters. These dol­phins are killed for meat, fer­til­izer, cook­ing oil, and ma­chine lu­bri­ca­tion. (Ham­mond, et al., 2008; Lip­scomb, et al., 1994; Nowak, 2003; Reynolds, et al., 2000; Van Bressem, et al., 2001)

• IUCN Red List

  Data Deficient

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

All Tur­siops species were ini­tially in­cluded in the species Tur­siops trun­ca­tus. It is now rec­og­nized that there are at least three species, in­clud­ing Tur­siops trun­ca­tus (found in all oceans ex­cept polar wa­ters), Tur­siops gillii (found in the east­ern North Pa­cific), and Tur­siops adun­cus (found in the In­dian, South Pa­cific, and west­ern and south­ern North Pa­cific oceans). Tur­siops adun­cus was iden­ti­fied in 1883 by Chris­t­ian Ehren­berg. Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins are dif­fer­en­ti­ated from com­mon bot­tlenosed dol­phins by ge­netic and mor­pho­log­i­cal dif­fer­ences. Some have sug­gested that Indo-Pa­cific bot­tlenosed dol­phins are more closely re­lated to Stenella and Del­phi­nus species than to Tur­siops trun­ca­tus. This is an area of ac­tive re­search. (Nowak, 2003; Reynolds, et al., 2000; Rice, 1998; Shir­i­hai and Jar­rett, 2006)

Con­trib­u­tors

Kelly Diaz (au­thor), Yale Uni­ver­sity, Rachel Raci­cot (ed­i­tor), Yale Uni­ver­sity, Eric Sar­gis (ed­i­tor), Yale Uni­ver­sity, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

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