Tursiops truncatus
| Common bottlenose dolphin | |
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| Common bottlenose dolphin breaching in the bow wave of a boat | |
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| Size compared to an average human | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | Delphinidae |
| Genus: | Tursiops |
| Species: | T. truncatus |
| Binomial name | |
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Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821) |
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| Common bottlenose dolphin range (in blue) | |
Tursiops truncatus, commonly known as the common bottlenose dolphin or the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (and in older literature simply as the bottlenose dolphin, a term now applied to the genus), is the most well-known species from the family Delphinidae.
Common bottlenose dolphins are the most familiar dolphins due to the wide exposure they receive in captivity in marine parks and dolphinaria, and in movies and television programs.T. truncatus is the largest species of the beaked dolphins. They inhabit temperate and tropical oceans throughout the world, and are absent only from polar waters. All bottlenose dolphins were previously known as T. truncatus, but recently the genus has been split into three species, T. truncatus, T. aduncus (Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin) and T. australis (Burrunan dolphin). Although T. truncatus has been traditionally called the bottlenose dolphin, many authors have used the name common bottlenose dolphin for this species since two other species of bottlenose dolphins were described. The dolphins inhabit warm and temperate seas worldwide. Considerable genetic variation has been described among members of this species, even between neighboring populations, and so many experts believe multiple species may be included within T. truncatus.
The common bottlenose dolphin is grey in color and may be between 2 and 4 m (6.6 and 13.1 ft) long, and weighs between 150 and 650 kg (330 and 1,430 lb). Males are generally larger and heavier than females. In most parts of the world, the adult's length is between 2.5 and 3.5 m (8.2 and 11.5 ft) with weight ranging between 200 and 500 kg (440 and 1,100 lb). Newborn calves are between 0.8 and 1.4 m (2 ft 7 in and 4 ft 7 in) long and weigh between 15 and 30 kg (33 and 66 lb). They can live as long as 40–50 years. Sexual maturity varies by population, and ranges from 5–14 years of age. Dolphins have a short and well-defined snout that looks like an old-fashioned gin bottle, which is the source for their common name. Like all whales and dolphins, though, the snout is not a functional nose; the nose has instead evolved into the blowhole on the top of their heads. Their necks are more flexible than other dolphins' due to five of their seven vertebrae not being fused together as is seen in other dolphin species.
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Wikipedia