Are dolphins direct descendants of alien creatures?

Chinese scholar Xu Sen Sung argues that dolphins are direct descendants of alien creatures. The scientist managed to enter into telepathic contact with dolphins. And they told him about their origin.

The report of Chinese scientists from Beijing was greeted by the public with a fair amount of skepticism.

According to recent studies, the IQ level of some dolphins exceeds that of the average person. The dolphin's brain is practically no different in complexity from ours, and many scientists are still trying to unravel its abilities.

“Their ancestors came to our land 100 thousand years ago, fleeing the pollution of their planet,” says the scientist. “Their spaceships have long disappeared. But the bitter irony is that now pollution has also affected our Earth.

American biologists from Emory University cite facts that dolphins existed for a very long time; there were no people on Earth at that time and in the project, not even in the form of monkeys.

“Some kind of mutation has occurred,” says research director Laurie Marino. - The reasons for it are not yet clear. Based on the skulls of ancient dolphins, we were only able to establish the approximate time when they began to “get smart.” It turned out that the intellectual evolution of dolphins began 47 million years ago.

It seems that they do have a meaningful language, which is almost as complex as human language. We have not yet been able to understand it. But it is already known that the whistles, clicks and rattles of the “intellectuals of the sea” follow in certain series. And they don’t just resemble words, but carry some information. It showed mathematical analysis their “speeches” held at the University of California (USA). Besides, besides people, only dolphins recognize themselves in the mirror.

On the one hand, such abilities are not surprising. After all, the relative size of the dolphin brain is comparable to that of a human brain. And in terms of weight, it’s even larger: 1.7 kilograms on average versus our one and a half kilogram. And they have twice as many convolutions. But how did dolphins get such big, twisty brains? Why? For what? American biologists from Emory University tried to answer these questions. And.. they didn’t answer.

Dolphins first lived on land. Then for some reason they went to sea. There they lost their arms and legs, but became wiser. Although not immediately, but 35 million years ago, their brains suddenly grew dramatically.

The next leap occurred another 20 million years later - the brain again became larger and in its parameters approached the current human one. In fact, at that time, dolphins were the only such brainy creatures on Earth.

More or less man of sense appeared only 10 million years later, starting evolution with a much smaller brain. But he managed to become the crown of creation. At least that's what we think.

There is a hypothesis according to which nature does not tolerate more than one type of intelligent being. But she is quite capable of experimenting, consistently selecting the most suitable of the available candidates.

The “big brothers” - the dinosaurs - failed to survive. The “average” ones - the dolphins - have swerved away from progress. So we had to rely on people. But did our predecessors manage to create at least some kind of civilization? Unknown...

The secrets of some are hidden in the thickness of the earth's rocks, others - at the bottom of the ocean. True, they find strange “technical” details there, like bolts that are tens of millions of years old. But for serious scientists these are not arguments.

Enthusiasts don’t need to find anything special. They believe that lizards have finally become intelligent - they had ten or two million years to do this. And then they flew away from the then dysfunctional Earth to another planet.

The dolphins remained, but for some reason they degraded (is this true?) - for a long time they have no longer been engaged in creation, like their younger human brothers, but lead an idle lifestyle: they fish, swim. Why do you need a big brain for this?

Hello friends! Since you are reading this article, then you are interested in learning something new about dolphins. Today you have a great opportunity get to know them better. The dolphin is a smart animal, they even heal people, as I wrote in.

Let's figure out who dolphins are and what they are. Like you, like me, they belong to the class of mammals. About eleven million years ago, the ancestors of dolphins decided to leave the water, setting off to explore the vastness of the earth. Looking around, they were horrified. That is why the dolphins had to return to the expanses of the water surface. These beauties have teeth, being warm-blooded, they feed their cubs with milk.

Habitat

Wikipedia says that they prefer seas and oceans as their habitat. There is practically no place where these mammals have not settled in our world. From the Red Sea to the northern reservoirs. Further - more: sometimes these animals choose rivers. The bottlenose species or the small bottlenose dolphin prefer tropical water.

How are they born?

Do you know how dolphins are born? The bottlenose dolphin carries the baby for about a year. It is born tail first. The cub's eyes are immediately open, and its senses are extremely developed. Moreover, a barely born dolphin already has sufficient coordination to follow in the footsteps of its mother, who helps to rise to the surface. Then comes the baby dolphin's first breath in his life. Such a trusting relationship between a child dolphin and its mother lasts approximately from 3 to 8 years.

Breathtaking speed

I don’t know about you, but for me the following fact became a real revelation. Dolphins develop amazing speed. As for bottlenose dolphins, they develop from four to eleven kilometers per hour. The caudal fin, the strongest part of the body, helps in this. If there is such a need, the speed can reach up to 32 kilometers per hour! The body has perfect shape allowing free movement in the water.

Dolphins do not face such a thing as resistance. The body of a dolphin has been covered with scars since childhood, because these beauties have a uniquely smooth skin that helps them swim in the depths of the water. Just admire, watch this video of how dolphins accompany the ship:

Breath of dolphins

Another interesting fact from the life of these animals is associated with... breathing! They breathe air. Despite the lack of gills (unlike fish), they have lungs and a unique blowhole located on the upper part of the body. With the help of it, dolphins, like whales, make all kinds of sounds. Bottlenose dolphins can hold their breath for more than seven and a half minutes! But they can spend no more than a quarter of an hour under water - otherwise they are at risk.

Gastronomic preferences

Dolphins prefer to feast on different types fish and squid. It depends on the region in which the friend lives. For example, dolphins of the river family are real gourmets. They care what they eat. The teeth and jaws are not developed enough to make chewing movements. They swallow the fish whole.

Dolphins and people: who is smarter?

I was also very interested to know: is it a myth that dolphins are smarter than people? The bottlenose dolphin's brain is the same size as a human's. However, the elephant is four times more developed! the main role is given to the relationship between the brain and spinal cord. For example, for a dolphin it is forty to one, while for a person it is fifty to one. Cats have a ratio of five to one, but this does not mean that they are stupid.

As far as one can judge, the ratios between humans and dolphins are close. But these animals live in a completely different environment. It requires other abilities: hearing, vision and other factors, without which one cannot survive under water. Dolphins know how to heal people, in addition, read about it here.

Dolphin sizes

Are you wondering: is a dolphin a fish or...? Based on size, these comrades are much larger than fish. Dolphins can be quite large sizes. For example, the killer whale can be considered the largest of the family. Its length at birth is up to two and a half meters, amazing! Over time, the figure will reach six meters. But speaking of bottlenose dolphins, they are born barely a meter in length. It is rare that a bottlenose dolphin grows to exceed 2.5 meters.

What sounds do dolphins make?

Also, I wondered why dolphins make all sorts of sounds. I was curious to find the answer, which I am happy to share with you today. As mentioned above, the blowhole helps them “speak.” There is a whistle - for communication with each other, and sounds of a pulsating type, indicating emotional condition, like anger or excitement, and clicks to detect echolocation. That is, the direction. The animal world never ceases to amaze.

Dolphins know how to have fun!

Do you think it's true that dolphins like to play with each other? From time to time you have to watch how these animals jump out of the water and do something! Unimaginable acrobats. Swimming back and forth, playing with the waves, they make you hold your breath. There is a logical explanation for all this. By jumping out, the dolphins determine where the school of fish has passed. The games make up quite significant part the lives of these individuals.

They like to sort through pieces of coral, algae, communicate with their own kind, birds and even turtles. Dolphins are having fun while riding the waves! These are their games, friends. By the way, look at this funny video of a dolphin playing with a cat, my soul always warms up after watching it:

Why don't dolphins freeze underwater?

Finally, let's find out why dolphins, being warm-blooded, do not freeze in the water. Their body temperature is 36.6 degrees. In the northern seas, animals need to stay warm. Water, which conducts heat up to twenty-five times more efficiently than air, allows you to freeze much faster than in air.

Why do dolphins perform such miracles?! This is due to a large layer of fat under the skin. They can control their blood circulation and metabolism. This makes it possible to maintain normal body temperature, as Wikipedia says.

And finally, I have a small request for you, I recently found this video below on the Internet, which tells and shows how dolphins live in dolphinariums, watch it and write in the comments what you think about this?

Dolphins are not fish at all, as many believe, but aquatic mammals small in size, belonging to the order Cetaceans. Dolphins are directly related to whales and killer whales (the latter are actually large dolphins). Very distant relatives of dolphins can be considered pinnipeds and terrestrial predators leading an aquatic lifestyle (sea otters). This group of animals is vast and diverse and includes 50 species.

Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

The common features of all types of dolphins are a naked, streamlined body, flexible and muscular at the same time, highly modified limbs that have turned into fins, a small head with a pointed snout and dorsal, which most dolphins have. On the head of these animals the transition between the frontal part and the nose is well defined. Dolphins have small eyes and do not see well because they do not use their eyesight to track prey. They also lack tactile whiskers and a sense of smell. In our understanding, dolphins do not have a nose as such. The fact is that dolphins are so adapted to constantly living in water that their nostrils have merged into one breathing hole (blowhole), which is located on... the parietal part of the head. This allows animals to breathe when their body is almost completely submerged in water. In addition to the nose, dolphins also lack ears. But they have a rumor, it just works in an unusual way. In the absence of external auditory openings, the perception of sounds was taken over by the inner ear and air cushions in the frontal part of the brain, which act as a resonator. These animals have perfect echolocation! They pick up the reflected sound wave and thus determine the location of the object. By the nature of sound vibrations, dolphins also determine the distance to an object and its nature (density, structure, material from which it is made). Without exaggeration, we can say that dolphins literally see the world through sounds and see it much better than other creatures! The dolphins themselves make sounds similar to crackling, clicking, clicking and even chirping. The sounds made by dolphins are extremely diverse and complex; they consist of many individual modulations and are used by animals not only for communication, but also for communication with the outside world. Dolphins have numerous teeth (40-60 pieces), small and uniform. This structure of the dental system is due to the fact that dolphins only catch prey, but do not chew it. The body of dolphins is completely naked, devoid of even the slightest rudiments of hair. Moreover, the skin of these animals has special structure, reducing water friction and improving the hydrodynamic properties of the body.

Common dolphin or common dolphin (Delphinus delphis).

Since dolphins are very mobile and constantly move in the water high speeds, outer layer The skin is constantly wearing out. Therefore, the deep layers of the skin have a powerful supply of regenerating cells that are constantly dividing. A dolphin goes through 25 cell layers of skin per day! We can say that these animals are in a state of continuous molting. Dolphins have two types of coloring: monochromatic (gray, black, pink) and contrasting, when large areas of the body are painted black and white.

Commerson's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) has a bright black and white coloration.

Dolphins live exclusively in water bodies, never leaving the water column. The range of these animals is very extensive and covers almost the entire Earth. There are no dolphins only in the coldest Arctic and sub-Antarctic waters. Mostly these mammals live in salty waters - seas and oceans, but some species of dolphins (Chinese and Amazonian river dolphins) live in large rivers. Dolphins prefer open spaces, moving freely across the ocean, but sometimes they come close to the shore and even play in the surf. Another phenomenon associated with this is the so-called stranding of dolphins. Cases of individual animals and even entire schools of dolphins being found on the shore have long been known. Discarded animals are always healthy and often still alive. For what reason they end up on the shore, scientists are still arguing. It is impossible to blame dolphins for errors in movement, because their echolocating abilities are highly developed. The idea that dolphins do this on purpose is untenable, since not a single animal is capable of suicide. It is most likely that dolphins end up on the shore due to information “noise” - large quantity sounds made by ship engines, radio frequency beacons, etc. The dolphins' sophisticated echo sounder picks up this cacophony, but their brains are not able to filter out so many sound sources, as a result, the animals see an erroneous "map of the area" and become stranded. This confirms that dolphins die more often in areas of busy shipping and generally close to human civilization.

A school of common dolphins.

All types of dolphins are school animals; their groups can number from 10 to 150 individuals. Social relations they are very developed. These are friendly animals that maintain peaceful relations with each other; there are no fights or fierce competition between them. But the pack has its own leaders, more experienced animals and young animals. They communicate with each other using sounds of different tones and durations; each member of the herd has their own individual voice. With various signals, dolphins inform each other about impending danger, the availability of food, or the desire to play. Moreover, dolphins indicate each category of objects with their own sound. For example, when a killer whale approaches ( dangerous predator) dolphins “speak” differently than when a whale approaches (just a neighbor), they can unite simple sounds into complex words and even sentences. This is nothing more than a speech! That is why dolphins are considered one of the most highly developed animals, putting their intelligence on the same level as apes.

A flock of bottlenose dolphins looks at the underwater photographer with interest.

There is another little-known side to the dolphin mind. Due to high level development, these animals have a lot of free time, not busy searching for food. Dolphins use it for communication, games and... sex. These animals engage in sexual intercourse regardless of the breeding season and the biological cycle of each member of the herd. Thus sexual relations serve not only for procreation, but also for pleasure. Dolphins also love to play “outdoor games,” as we would call them. They practice jumping out of the water forward, upward, or twisting around their axis like a corkscrew.

By moving its strong tail, a dolphin is able to lift its body above the water, hold it for several seconds, and even move backwards (tail stand).

Dolphins have one more thing in common with humans little known fact. It turns out that despite differences in physiology, dolphins can suffer from diseases that are quite human; in captivity, cases of liver cirrhosis, pneumonia and brain cancer have been recorded.

Dolphins feed exclusively on fish. They prefer small and average fish- anchovies, sardines. The fishing technique of dolphins is unique. First, the herd scans the water column using echolocation; when a school of fish is detected, the dolphins quickly approach it. Along the way, they make sounds of a special frequency that cause panic in the fish. A school of fish gathers together in a dense heap, and that’s all the dolphins need. As they approach, they work together to catch fish, often while the dolphins exhale air, the bubbles of which create a kind of barrier around the school of fish. Thus, these hunters can catch a significant part of the school of fish. Dolphins also have meal companions: seagulls and gannets monitor the behavior of dolphins from above and, while feeding, attack schools of fish from the air.

A common dolphin fishes with a shark (in the background). In this case, the shark does not pose a threat to the dolphin.

Dolphins are breeding all year round. They have no special mating rituals, but usually the leading male of the herd mates with the female. Mating occurs while moving, and the birth of a baby dolphin occurs while moving. Dolphin calves, like all cetaceans, are born tail first. This is due to the fact that the newborn is under water and for the first breath he must first rise to the surface. Dolphin calves are born so well developed that from the very first seconds of life they swim independently after their mother. However, the mother and nearby members of the herd help the baby rise to the surface, pushing it with their noses. The cub often suckles from its mother, thanks to the nutritious milk it grows quickly. Communicating with relatives, the cub learns from them the art of hunting and soon begins to participate in the life of the herd on an equal basis with adults.

The main enemies of dolphins are sharks and... their own relatives. One of the most large species dolphins - killer whale - hunts for warm-blooded inhabitants of the seas. Smaller species often become its prey. Since ancient times, humans have also hunted dolphins. True, dolphin hunting has never been carried out in industrial scale, because besides meat (not the best taste qualities) you can't extract anything from a dolphin carcass. Therefore, dolphins were caught only local residents northern countries or sailors on long voyages. Despite this, these animals are still caught in some countries. Such a hunt looks cruel, because the meat of caught dolphins is only used as food for dogs and does not bring any economic benefit. Such actions are doubly absurd considering that many species of dolphins are endangered. These animals die in fishing nets, due to oil spills, and from injuries caused by ship propellers. At the same time, dolphins are often kept in water parks where they complex program training and performing in entertainment shows.

Bottlenose dolphins, it turns out, can write sounds. Breakthrough in decoding. Renowned dolphin researcher Jack Kassewitz ( Jack Kassewitz) and his wife Donna ( Donna Brewer Kassewitz), founders non-profit organization Global Heart(World Heart), are currently conducting research as part of the largest Lately project SpeakDolphin - "Let's talk to the dolphin". Its ultimate goal, in fact, is indicated in this title. On the way to it, enthusiasts seriously hope to first decipher the language and understand the conversations of the “intellectuals of the sea,” or rather, their chatter. And then - communicate as equals. So that dolphins understand people.

Many people are thirsty and thirsty for a frank conversation with dolphins. But numerous attempts by scientists different countries delving into the secrets of their language has not yet brought tangible results. However, Jack and Donna are confident of success. They promise a speedy breakthrough in decryption. It must be ensured in principle new approach to the language of our sea brothers in mind. After all, for the first time, researchers have discovered graphic equivalents of their words in dolphins. A kind of hieroglyphs. Essentially, writing. The Kassewitz couple are going to deal with it, calling on fellow scientists for help, writes sunhome.ru.

Jack Kassewitz, project director SpeakDolphin- “Let's Talk to the Dolphin” is a dictionary of our brothers in mind.

They went to sea and never returned

Dolphins, like us, are mammals. They appeared on Earth several tens of millions of years earlier than humans. The brain is large and developed - in some species the relative size exceeds that of humans.

Many believe in the beautiful hypothesis that dolphins were the first intelligent creatures on the planet. For some reason they moved to the sea. They stayed there - in an environment that had everything for a carefree life. And this left an imprint on their minds. He is not burdened by heavy thoughts about living space, clothing, politics, salary and technical progress. But the intelligence in the heads of the dolphins remained. The ability to communicate was also preserved. And the language has changed. Evolution adapted it for talking in water. The dolphins lead them, exchanging fairly narrow sound beams. Both high and low frequencies are used.

- Before establishing contact with extraterrestrial civilizations, it is necessary to establish contact with another civilization on Earth - the Dolphins, - called the famous American neurophysiologist John Lilly 50 years ago. And he was the first to announce that dolphins are intelligent. Their language is highly organized and worthy of close study. I have written books about this. What has fascinated most of humanity. Except for the Japanese, who still eat dolphins, killing thousands.

The dolphin hieroglyph is hidden in the cross section of its sound beam

Stupid animals

Over half a century, a lot of arguments have been found, both for and against the dolphin mind. Some researchers have argued that having a large brain does not indicate intelligence. Like, it increased only because additional “convolutions” were required for memorization coastline. In other words, dolphins use it mainly for navigation.

Some people believe that a large brain is needed no more than to keep the head warm. Like, in general, dolphins are stupid. Main argument: intelligent beings would not get entangled in fishing nets. And the dolphins get entangled and die from suffocation. Opponents object quite wittily. Imagine, they say, outside observers, for example, aliens, who doubt the mental abilities of people. And they refer to the fact that they - people - constantly collide on the roads in cars. And they die. Stupid, right? How are the dolphins?

Someone heard absolutely no intelligent speech in the sounds made. Scientists from Florida Atlantic University, for example, claim: by sending impulses, dolphins simply suppress herring, which loses its orientation and becomes easy prey.

- If dolphins do have a tongue, they go to great lengths to hide this fact from us., - Jay Morton, a physiologist and authoritative expert on animal acoustic communication, once even said.

Dolphins have a whole broadcast system for conversations. By the way, they hear not with their ears, but with an antenna in the lower part of the jaw.

Hello, my name is…

And yet there is more evidence in favor of the intelligence of sea brothers. For example, Laela Say from the University of North Carolina, along with colleagues from other universities, noticed that dolphins call each other by name. And when they meet, they introduce themselves. They understand calls as words, and not just as signals from relatives. They can determine who is who without any connection with recognizing the voice of the interlocutor.

Experimenting with bottlenose dolphins off the coast of Florida, scientists broadcast synthesized messages to them - impersonal ones. More than half of the dolphins turned when they heard that they were called. Moreover, by listening to “conversations”, scientists discovered that two dolphins can talk about a third one, calling him by name.

Other details also emerged. If you believe scientists who highly value the intelligence of our sea brothers, then in the speech of dolphins there are at least six levels of organization: sound, syllable, word, simple phrase, complex phrase, paragraph.

Dolphins broadcast and perceive speech in hieroglyphic pictures.

Yes there is a lot of information here

About ten years ago, American researchers - Lawrence Doyle from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI Institute) in Mountain View, together with animal behaviorists from the University of California in Davis, California - recorded several hundred communication signals of dolphins. And they applied the so-called Zipf method to them. It was developed back in 1949 by George Kingsley Zipf, a professor at Harvard University.

The method is based on mathematics - statistical analysis of the frequency of occurring words and letters. It allows you to determine how informative, orderly and, therefore, intelligent any language, even a completely unfamiliar one, is. The result of the analysis is a graph. And if you go straight to it, without going into the wisdom of the method, it turns out that modern human languages, for example, English, Russian and even Japanese, give a straight line with a slope. Some kind of abracadabra - without tilting.

So the “dolphin line” is the same as ours. Conclusion: their language carries information. And researchers Jack and Donna Kassewitz were able to record it graphically for the first time.

Hearing is like seeing

Images of dolphin letters or words made it possible to discover the original device CymaScope, developed by British acoustic engineer John Stuart Reid ( John Stuart Reid). Using a special membrane, it allows you to see and transmit to a computer how the frequencies are distributed - down to the smallest detail - in the sound beam that the dolphin emits. As a result, each “squeak” appears in the form of a picture - a kind of hieroglyph. Or "simaglyph" ( CymaGlyph), as scientists call this ring sign.

It is already clear that simaglyphs are different, just like our words written on paper. Perhaps dolphins generally speak and hear in pictures. It’s as if they “write” with sounds and “read” what is written. They encrypt into pictures and decipher into concepts.

- I have long believed that the dolphin brain processes audio signals in the same way that the human brain processes video information, says project consultant Dr. Horace Dobbs, a dolphin therapist. - Now we can consider it proven.

- We are not surprised that with the help of an ultrasonic ultrasound device, images can be obtained internal organs or a fetus in the womb?- says Jack. - It is also normal to take into account the fact that dolphins’ communication system can be based on visual images. And this makes their speech “look” much more sophisticated than ours.

In people semantic meaning arises from the third level, that is, from the word. But for the dolphin, it seems that from the first, that is, from the sound, the scientist believes. After all, each one is graphically complex enough to carry information.

Can't do without an intermediary

Scientists - both Kassewitz and Reid - believe they have found something like a Rosetta Stone - with the key that once allowed Jean-Francois Champollion and Thomas Young to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. They claim that now it will be possible to create a kind of visible dictionary of the dolphin language. And using it, compose entire phrases suitable for communication - broadcast pictures transformed into sounds.

Alas, a person will never be able to click, chirp and whistle like a dolphin. Even approximately. There are no relevant authorities. And dolphins have a complex broadcasting installation located at the top of their heads. And it contains not one, but four sound generators that can be turned on simultaneously. Where can we get to them? With our primitive vocal cords...

An intimate, direct conversation - face to face - will still not work. Therefore, the intermediary - translator, translator-synthesizer and receiver - will be a computer. The current ones are so powerful that they could already ensure dialogue. It's up to the dictionary.

Just the facts

A person is not capable of this

* We distinguish changes in sound over time if they occur at a rate of no higher than 50-70 per second. Dolphins can reach speeds of up to 2000 per second.

* Dolphins can detect a ten times wider range of sounds than humans. A person perceives vibration frequencies up to 15–20 thousand per second, a dolphin - up to 150–200 thousand per second.

* A dolphin is able to hear a sound ten times weaker than that which is accessible to the human ear.

* The ability to analyze sound and separate some frequencies from others is 4 times higher in a dolphin than in a human. All this puts at the disposal of “brothers in mind” a sound palette that is incomparable to what we have.

Jack Kassewitz and his wife Donna still expect to learn a lot of interesting things from the dolphins. For example, about how they ended up at sea.

By the way

A military secret

In the former USSR, almost all research related to dolphins was one of the most classified. Primarily because the military worked with them. They tried to adapt it for reconnaissance and sabotage. But it is possible that even then - under Soviet rule - scientists were convinced that dolphins are intelligent. And this only added to the desire of the relevant authorities to hide the information received from the public.

Already in the 21st century, in one of his interviews, a researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (formerly the Institute of Evolutionary Morphology and Animal Ecology) Dr. biological sciences Vladimir Markov said that a group under his leadership studied the writing of dolphins back in the 80s of the last century. Scientists put tens of thousands of their signals on paper and tried to systematize them. They didn’t get to the bottom of the hieroglyphs because they were drawing graphs. But we understood: the dolphin’s signal is something greater in its meaning and information content than our lexical unit of language - the word. And the vocabulary of these signals is huge - about seven thousand, which dolphins use in everyday conversations. For comparison, a person costs 800-1000.

- In my opinion, - said Markov, dolphins are intelligent creatures with a highly organized intellect, capable of receiving, processing and using information, the volume of which goes beyond the limits of biological need... It feels like a little more and we will understand them...

Dolphins have long been one of the most beloved waterfowl for humans. And this is not surprising! After all, dolphins are the most peaceful, intelligent and friendly creatures on the planet! When we talk about dolphins, we always imagine trained cetacean creatures performing acrobatic tricks. However, there are countries that are categorically against dolphinariums, believing that these smart creatures should not live outside natural environment, after all, from year to year the number of dolphins decreases significantly. And only the human factor is to blame for this.

A little history

It is assumed that the sperm whale, whale, dolphin, including the porpoise descended from the same ancestors - mammals that inhabited the earth millions of years ago, but were not strictly land animals, but rather loved to hunt and live in the water. These are mesonychids - omnivorous creatures with hooves like those of horses and cows, with a predatory, wolf-like appearance. According to approximate data, mesonychids lived for more than sixty million years, and they inhabited the modern continent of Asia, part Mediterranean Sea(in ancient times it was the Tethys Sea). These animals most likely ate any small aquatic animals and any fish that then inhabited the numerous swamps off the coast.

And due to the fact that mesonychids spent most of their lives in any body of water, their appearance gradually began to develop in width, streamlined, their limbs turned into fins, while the hair on the skin began to disappear, and underneath it, thick subcutaneous fat developed and intensified. To make it easier for animals to breathe, the nostrils ceased to fulfill their original function: in the process of evolution, they became a vital organ for the animal, since creatures could breathe through them, and all thanks to their displacement to the top of the head.

Even for a long time It was believed that the ancestors of cetaceans, including dolphins, were indeed mesonychids; however, they “borrowed” most of all from hippopotamuses, and this is proven by numerous molecular studies. Dolphins are not just descendants of these artiodactyls, they are also deeply similar and part of their group. Until now, hippos and hippos live mainly in water; they only spend a couple of hours on land to eat. That is why scientists suggest that hippos are one of the evolutionary branches of cetaceans. It’s just that whales went further than hippos, they completely abandoned life on land and completely switched to life in the water.

And if the relationship between hippopotamuses with hooves and legless cetaceans seems strange to you, then we would like to give another version of the taxonomy, for example, land animals with 4 legs that evolved from fish. It’s just that we shouldn’t be surprised that long before our civilization appeared, the evolution of dolphins proceeded so rapidly.

Description of dolphins

Dolphins are large waterfowl that breathe air, unlike fish, whose breathing function is provided by gills. Sea dolphins are in the water all 24 hours, and this is where they give birth to little dolphins. Since the female feeds her babies herself, they are therefore warm-blooded creatures, mammals.

Unlike their relatives, whales, dolphins are more beautiful creatures. Apart from sharp teeth, no sinister intrigues can be found in their intelligent and friendly gaze. So, an adult dolphin can be 2.5 meters long and weigh only three hundred kilograms. Whereas it can be nine meters long and weigh eight tons. Males are always larger than females, by at least 20 centimeters. They have more than eighty teeth. The color of the body and fins is black or gray, while the belly is white.

The largest body cetacean dolphins have a brain that is amazingly awake all the time while the dolphin is sleeping. The brain allows the animal to breathe all the time, even when it is sleeping: this way the dolphin will not drown, because the supply of oxygen for cetaceans is very important for life.

Scientists have named the skin of dolphins natural miracle. This is their wealth! When dolphins calmly dampen the water turbulence, when the body needs to slow down a little.

This is interesting!
Creators submarines We looked closely at how dolphins swim for a long time. Thanks to the dolphins, the designers were able to create an artificial skin for the submarine.

Dolphins: what they eat and how they hunt

Shellfish, various types of fish and other aquatic animals are the food of the dolphin. Interestingly, dolphins can eat a lot of fish in a day. Dolphins hunt fish in schools, and each member of the school can eat up to thirty kilograms. All this is due to the fact that dolphins are animals that, when too low temperature conditions Ocean or sea water (below zero degrees Celsius) must always maintain its own temperature so that it is optimal. And warm-blooded dolphins are helped in this by thick subcutaneous fat, which is constantly replenished through huge amounts of food. That is why dolphins are always on the move, hunting, and only at night allow themselves to rest a little.

A school of dolphins can very quickly catch up with a school of fish, because in the sea these animals are aces. If the dolphins are already close to the beach, they instantly form half rings around the fish in order to push their future food to the shallow water and eat there. As soon as dolphins capture schools of fish, they do not immediately rush at them, but then continue to keep them in a circle so that they do not swim away, and each member of the pod can have lunch or dinner with their favorite food.

To see dolphins, just look for a school of fish. These cetaceans will definitely live where there are a lot of fish. In summer, dolphins can be found in abundance in Azov, when mullet and anchovy move to the sea to feed. Dolphins also swim close to the Caucasian shores in early autumn, when fish begin to migrate in herds.

As you may have noticed, it is rare to see one dolphin in the ocean, since these animals are very friendly, love to live in schools, hunt together, and even dolphins can jump beautifully and perform their tricks together with their comrades. Be that as it may, dolphins never got along with killer whales. There are also still poachers who hunt these friendly earthly creatures. Despite everything, dolphins trust people and even know how to communicate not only with each other, but also with other animals. They will never leave their comrades in trouble. And in case of severe danger, they can even help a person. There are so many legends and stories in the world about dolphins saving people’s lives. Some even watched as dolphins pushed boats that were carried away by the winds to the shores.

Dolphin breeding

Unlike other inhabitants water world, dolphins are the only ones that are born with tails, not heads. And that's true. Loving mothers do not leave their babies even two or three years after birth.

This is interesting!
Dolphins are incredibly sensual and compassionate animals. A little dolphin, even after it becomes a completely independent adult male or female, never leaves its parents under any circumstances.

And not only do dolphins experience great affection and love for their own fellow creatures, but even for whales, other animals (they don’t like killer whales) and for people. Once a female and male have babies, they never leave each other, even after having numerous babies. Who else but dolphins know how to love their young, tenderly and lovingly treat them, teach them, take them hunting, so that soon the children themselves know how to hunt fish.

This is interesting!
If dolphins are hunting and sense danger, they lead their babies behind, but if there are no external threats, the baby dolphins calmly swim in front of their parents. Interestingly, after the cubs the females swim, and then the males - the protectors.

Relationships with people

Since each dolphin lives in peace and harmony with its fellow tribesmen and whales, it behaves accordingly. The sense of help in these animals is particularly developed. They will never leave a sick dolphin to die; they will even save a choking person at sea if, by a lucky chance, they find themselves nearby. Dolphins can hear a person’s cry for help far away, since their hearing is very developed, as is their brain.

The fact is that dolphins spend all their time in the water, which is why their vision is weakened (weak water transparency). Then, the hearing is perfectly developed. The dolphin uses an active location - the hearing is able to analyze the echo that occurs when it produces characteristic sounds from any objects surrounding the animal. Based on this, the echo tells the dolphin what shape and length the objects around him are, what they are made of, and in general, what they are. As you can see, hearing fully helps fulfill the visual role for the dolphin, which does not prevent this peace-loving creature from feeling complete in such a complex world.

It's easy for a person to tame a dolphin. Fortunately, like a dog, the animal is easy and simple to train. All you have to do is entice the dolphin with a delicious fish. He will perform any somersault for the public. Although dolphins have one flaw, they can forget any trick very quickly if a person forgets to feed them on time.

Why do we all treat dolphins differently than other animals? Looking at these cute and funny creatures, you forget about how huge these animals are, and how, despite their size, they are the only cetaceans that can safely be classified as the best “friends”.

Dolphins are like grandmothers on a bench, overly curious. They swim up to a person with interest, flirt with him, throw a ball, and even smile, although few people notice this. They are designed to smile at us, laugh with us. Well, we can’t call a dolphin’s face a muzzle, the smile on their face is cheerful and friendly – ​​that’s what attracts us to them!

Dolphins love us, we love them. But there are... heartless people who, for the sake of profit, forget about humanity and kill these peaceful creatures. In Japan, dolphin hunting is amazing! They don't even think about talking about sympathy for dolphins. On other continents, dolphins are placed in dolphinariums for the amusement of people. In cramped conditions in which they do not live longer than five years (for comparison, in nature, dolphins live up to fifty years).

This is interesting!
The Indian state has become the fourth state in the world to ban the construction of dolphinariums. The first countries to ban keeping these cetaceans in captivity were Asian Chile, Costa Rica, and Hungary. For Indians, dolphins are the same as a person who also has the right to freedom and life in nature.

Dolphin therapy

A story of great friendship sea ​​dolphins and man goes far into the past, even before scientists began to call these animals dolphins. Researchers of the body language of cetaceans have come to the conclusion that they have developed verbal communication abilities in the same way as humans. If a mentally ill child, an autist, spends a lot of time with dolphins and “communicates” with them, then this will have a beneficial effect on him. The child begins to smile and laugh. The British talked about this back in the 70s of the last century. Subsequently, dolphin therapy began to be actively used to treat not only mental and neurological diseases, but also many physical ones. Swimming with dolphins is beneficial; you can relieve stress, severe headaches, neuralgia and even rheumatism.

Abnormalities in behavior

All of you have probably seen this picture on the news or on the Internet, when the beaches are full of dolphins that have stranded themselves. Often they are thrown out on their own because they are very sick, injured, or poisoned. Dolphins clearly hear sounds from the shore, which are very similar to cries for help from their fellows. Therefore, upon hearing such a cry, dolphins rush to the shore to help, and often find themselves trapped.