The Dolphins Habitat
A dolphin's habitat is where they live, hunt and socialize. For most dolphins, this spans from warm coastal waters to the deep ocean. Other dolphins live in freshwater rivers and brackish waters found along coastlines. Since there are many different species of dolphin, a dolphin's habitat depends on the type of dolphin.
Bottlenose dolphins are probably the most well-known dolphin species, and they are found in all of the oceans of the world. Bottlenose dolphins can be found in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as well as the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.
These dolphins generally stay where the water is warmer, and they are often seen in bays, gulfs, harbors, lagoons and tributaries. Bottlenose dolphins and other dolphin species are regularly seen in the Pacific Ocean waters from Australia all the way to the northern tip of Japan. On our side of the Pacific, dolphin populations stretch from Southern California far south to Chile in South America.
In the Atlantic Ocean, dolphin habitats run all the way from Norway to South Africa. The bottlenose dolphin is the most abundant dolphin species in the United States, and they are found from Cape Cod and into the Gulf of Mexico. Dolphins can be found as far north as Nova Scotia, Canada, and as far south as Patagonia. Except for the coldest waters, the dolphin's habitat can pretty much span the globe.
Other dolphin species don't live in the ocean at all. These are species of river dolphin, and they are found throughout the world as well. The Amazon River dolphin, also called boto, dwells in the freshwater environment of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers of South America. Although at this time the Amazon River dolphin is not endangered, dolphin conservationists are concerned that this dolphin's habitat may be threatened in the future by deforestation, untreated sewage, waste dumping and water contamination.
Many of those same issues contributed to the presumed extinction of another species of river dolphin, the Baiji, or Yangtze River dolphin. The Baiji was native only to China's Yangtze River, and this dolphin species was declared a national treasure in 1975 by the Chinese government. Unfortunately that declaration did not protect this dolphin from having their watery home - and thus there population - destroyed.
The Yangtze River is one of the busiest waterways in the world, and the wealth of boat traffic, careless fishing, industrial projects and pollution all contributed to the destruction of the waters inhabited by the Yangtze River dolphin. Searches conducted by scientists in the past several years have unfortunately found no evidence that the Yangtze River dolphin has survived the drastic changes to its natural environment. As such, it is thought that the Baiji has been permanently erased from existence.
As with any animal living in the wild, a dolphins habitat is suited to their successful survival. Species like the Baiji must be examples of how important it is to protect the oceans and rivers that these marine mammals call home.