Just For Kids

by Sabrina C. Mashburn

You’ve probably been hearing a lot about dolphins lately. At the end of last year, a baby Bottlenose dolphin named April was saved from Hamptons waters and now she lives at the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation. This month, a whole pod of dolphins was spotted all over the East End from East Hampton to North Sea. Some people were confused as to why dolphins, who frequently swim around in shallow waters, could be stranded and drown in a shallow bay. However, not all species of dolphins share the same habits and habitats. There are 33 different types of dolphins in the sea and they are all different.

Bottlenose Dolphins, like April, are the most well-known species of dolphin and have become famous because of their appearances in movies and TV shows like “Flipper.” Bottlenose dolphins are gray, with lighter gray or pink undersides, large black eyes and mouths that curve up into a smile. Although they can grow to twelve feet long and weigh as much as 1,500 pounds, they are comfortable in the shallowest water, enjoy “surfing” in the wakes of boats and can be seen swimming in harbors all over the world. They can travel in groups of ten to 1,000 and although mothers are extremely bonded to their young, adult Bottlenose Dolphins frequently travel with many different groups.

The dolphins who were stranded in the Hamptons this month were Common dolphins. Common dolphins are much smaller than Bottlenose dolphins and are usually between seven and nine feet long and weigh less than 297 pounds. They almost never come close to shore and can be found in herds of hundreds or thousands of animals. These are the dolphins that get caught in deep-sea fishing nets because they like to play in the wakes of commercial fishing boats and try to steal fish. Common dolphins form very strong bonds to their herd and never venture into shallow waters. When a few sick animals traveled towards the shallow waters around the Hamptons this month, most of their pod followed them, even though they were not all sick. Once in the shallow water, the deep-sea creatures did not know how to navigate around obstacles such as sandbars and canals like Bottlenose dolphins do.

Although it was sad to see the dolphins in distress, the stranding did allow people an up-close look at the little dolphins’ beautiful white, black and grey striped bodies and compact, powerful fins engineered for deep-sea swimming and hunting.

To learn more about these beautiful animals, check out the American Cetacean Society’s website at www.acsonline.org. If you see a dolphin that is too close to shore, call the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation’s Stranding Hotline at (631) 369-9829.