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Informations - Physical Characteristics
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Size
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Pacific bottlenose dolphins may be 10 to 12 ft (3.0-3.7 meters) and weigh between
500 & 1000 lbs (277-455kg).
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Atlantic bottlenose dolphins may be 7 to 10 ft (2.1-3.0 meters) and weigh between
250 & 600 lbs.
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Males may be slightly larger than females.
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Shape
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Bottlenose dolphins have sleek, streamlined, fusiform bodies.
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Dolphin's bodies are so efficient in water. Submarines, torpedoes, and missiles
are designed after them.
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Coloration
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Nondescript gray to gray green or gray brown on the back, fading to white on the
belly. The belly at times may be pinkish.
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Dark coloring on the bade and light coloring on its belly provides optimum camouflage,
blending with the surface from below and the canter from above.
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Head
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Bottlenose dolphins have a well-defined beak, marked by a lateral crease, usually
about 3 in (7.8 cm).
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Teeth are conical and interlocking.
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Eyes are on the sides of the head, near the corners of the mouth.
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Ears am located about an inch behind the eyes. They are small: inconspicuous pin
hole openings with no external flaps or pinnae.
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Pectoral flippers
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Pectoral flippers the skeletal elements of the forelegs of terrestrial mammals,
but they are fore-shortened and modified.
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Thick cartilage pads between the bones rigidly support the skeletal elements.
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Flukes
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Each lobe of the tail is called a fluke.
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Flukes are flattened pads of tough, dense, fibrous connective tissue, without bones.
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Dolphins propel themselves by moving their flukes up and down.
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Dorsal fin
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Like the flukes, it is made of dense, fibrous connective tissue with no bones.
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Dorsal fins have no function but may assist in steering.
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Dorsal fins can be used to identify individuals.
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