The Spinner Dolphin is a very unique animal to watch, especially when it can jump and spin to a height of ten feet in the air!  You can normally spot these beautiful creatures on the off shores of tropical waters.  The off shores are where the dolphins rest, socialize, and mate. They also love to ride the waves of boats. So the next time you go on a cruise, check out the waves and see if you can spot a Spinner Dolphin!

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Spinner Dolphins are dark gray, and have white bellies. You may have seen these animals at amusement parks. This specific type of dolphin is the height of an average adult human and weights around 51-170 pounds. Spinner Dolphins’ have these long, thin beaks that help them catch their pray.

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Would you ever have expected a dolphin to eat a jellyfish? That is one of the Spinner Dolphins’ favorite snacks to munch on. They also enjoy plankton, krill, small squid, shell-less snails, copepods, and medium sized fish. To munch on their small snacks they use their somewhat small teeth to grasp and immobilize their prey, rather than chewing it.

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Some of the Spinner Dolphins’ voracious predators are sharks, killer whales, and pilot whales.  Killer whales are around nine times the size of a Spinner Dolphin, and Pilot whales are around eight times the size. These dolphins are fast, but not fast enough to get away from a very big, and very hungry shark. The Spinner Dolphin is endangered and there are around 613,000 left on the planet.

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As you can see, Spinner Dolphins are playful and harmless animals. If you go and visit the Miami, Florida Sea Aquarium you can swim and play with these animals. I know I will want to some day.

 

Author: Rylee S.

Published: 02/2011

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Sources: http://www.wilddolphin.org/spinner_dolphin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/stenella_lonirostris

http://nmfs.noaa.gov

Book Source: Smithsonian Institution (Animal)