- We all love dolphins but it turns out they're not as sweet as the seem!
Do you know any angry facts about dolphins? Turns out these pretty animals that people sometimes swim and play with are, well, mean and ugly!
The Effect Of Air Pollution
Dolphins use sound for communication and echolocation. Loud noises from ships, underwater construction, and naval exercises interfere with the acoustic signals that dolphins use. For the dolphins, this can lead to disorientation, impaired hunting abilities, and physical trauma or even death.
Getting Stranded
The idea of mass strandings when lots of dolphins beach themselves is still largely misunderstood. The phenomenon of mass strandings, where large groups of dolphins beach themselves, remains poorly understood. Some think the dolphins may be getting confused due to disorientation from sonar or other human noises, viral infections or even errors in navigation. When this happens, it’s tragic and lots of dolphins end up dead.
Threats From Plastics and Pollution
These animals frequently have to deal with all kinds of ocean pollution and plastic garbage and waste. They sometimes think floating plastic is food and when they consume it, it can lead to ingestion that in turn can lead to internal injuries, blockages, or starvation. They also struggle with weakened immune systems and are increasingly vulnerable to diseases. Did you know these angry facts about dolphins?
Against Themselves
Dolphins are certainly aggressive with other dolphins and do things like bite, tail-slap and ram into each other. This can be severe among the dolphins and can even result in serious injuries or death. With some species, the males will form alliances and fight over the females, leading to intense and prolonged conflict.
Sexual Behaviors
Dolphins can be aggressive and coercive in their sexual behaviors. Males will often work together when herding females and can be forceful in their attempts to mate. These behaviors are sometimes seen towards other species as well and seen as antisocial and harmful.
They Use Tools
Or better yet, dolphins use sponges as tools. The animals were observed in Shark Bay, Australia where they were using marine sponges to look for food on the floor of the sea. This shows the harder conditions dolphins deal with when there is harmful debris that could hurt the dolphin’s sensitive snouts.
Diet High In Mercury
Dolphins eat fish and squid that have high levels of mercury they accumulated from the environment. Mercury poisoning can happen in dolphins over time due to this diet. The poisoning can impact and impair neurological functions and reproduction.
Power Struggle
Dolphins live amongst themselves in pods. These structures are based on a hierarchy that causes stress to those ranking lower in the pod leading to them being excluded from activities and/or targeted by more dominant members. These social stressors can affect the overall health and wellness of the dolphins. Do these seem like angry facts about dolphins to you?
Captivity Struggles
Dolphins, unlike many other animals, can recognize themselves in the mirror, showing high self-awareness. Because they are so smart, it makes captivity even harder for them as they know they have less freedoms and altered living conditions. This situation leads to showing mental stress behaviors like swimming in repetitive patterns or harming themselves.
The Impacts Of Climate Change
Marine ecosystems are affected by global warming, leading to the availability of what dolphins eat, in example, fish and squid. The sea temperatures have been changing and with that can come ice cover that disrupts migratory patterns and breeding grounds, that can lead to population declines.
Do you agree these are angry facts about dolphins? Let me know in the comments!