Common bottlenose dolphin

How it lives

Bottlenose dolphins often work together to herd fish, then take turns charging through the school, and some trap fish against sandbars or seawalls. They travel alone or in groups that often split up and come back together. Pregnancy lasts about 12 months, calves nurse for about 20 months, and they often stay with their mothers for 3 to 6 years.

Where it goes

Coastal bottlenose dolphins often stay in the same bays and estuaries for years, while offshore animals use deeper water over the shelf edge and open ocean. How far they move depends on the population.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

Around the world, coastal and offshore forms differ in size, colour, group size and how closely they stay to one area. Along the US East Coast, the nearshore coastal form is now treated as a separate species, Tamanend's bottlenose dolphin. The species is Least Concern worldwide, but Lahille's bottlenose dolphin of the southwest Atlantic is Endangered and several US coastal stocks are depleted. This is a different species from the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin.