Dolphin-tours.com is dedicated to helping you learn all about dolphins as well as find an incredible dolphin interaction program for your family to enjoy!
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. The name “porpoise” and “dolphin” have been used interchangeably, but they are quite different. They have small, rounded heads and blunt jaws instead of beaks and tend to be smaller but stouter than dolphins. Their teeth are spade-shaped, whereas dolphins have conical teeth. In addition, a porpoise’s dorsal fin is generally triangular, rather than curved like that of many dolphins and large whales. While dolphins have a round, bulbous “melon”, porpoises do not.
There are almost forty species of dolphin, and they are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves. They are carnivores, mostly eating fish and squid, and evolved about ten million years ago from terrestrial mammals. Most dolphins have acute eyesight, both in and out of the water, and their sense of hearing is superior to that of humans. Though they have a small ear opening on each side of their head, it is believed that hearing underwater is also if not exclusively done with the lower jaw which conducts the sound vibrations to the middle ear. It is believed that their teeth are arranged in a way that works as an array or antenna to receive the incoming sound and make it easier for them to pinpoint the exact location of an object. Since they lack an olfactory nerve they are believed to have no sense of smell. The individuals communicate using a variety of clicks, whistles and other vocalizations. They also use ultrasonic sounds for echolocation. Dolphin behaviour has been studied extensively by humans however, both in captivity and in the wild.
Dolphins grab the imaginations of many people. They are intelligent, playful, and friendly, and are reputed to have extra-sensory abilities and spiritual qualities. They help certain fishermen by herding fish into nets, and have rescued humans from dangerous situations at sea. They are ambassadors of the ocean, and lots of people want to meet them.
Dolphins are social, living in pods (also called “schools”) of up to a dozen individuals. In places with a high abundance of food, pods can join temporarily, forming an aggregation called a superpod; such groupings may exceed a thousand dolphins. Cetaceans can establish strong bonds between each other. This leads to them staying with injured or ill individuals, even actively helping them to breathe by bringing them to the surface if needed. This altruistic behaviour does not appear to be limited to their own species however. A dolphin in New Zealand that goes by the name of Moko has been observed to seemingly help guide a female Pygmy Sperm Whale together with her calf out of shallow water where they had stranded several times. They have also been known to seemingly protect swimmers from sharks by swimming circles around the swimmers or charging the sharks to make them go away.
So for thousands of years this warm, intelligent creature has captivated us. 
Advance reservations are suggested for all dolphin interaction programs as these activities typically sell out months in advance. So browse our website and select from several interactive programs that offer your family the opportunity to meet one of the ocean’s most amazing creatures! Tursiops truncatus, otherwise known as the Bottle-Nosed dolphin, is a very social animal and waiting for a visit from you at many dolphinariums throughout the Caribbean!