Leap Year Contest Winners and Dolphin Feature

Weekly Wednesday Update
We’ve reached 100 members!! Thank you so much everyone for your support of this group. This week, to celebrate the leap year, we’ve pulled together a very special article along with your contest results!

Contest: Leap Year Leapers
This was a difficult contest to judge! Due to the time constraints of this contest (today being Feb. 29th) I couldn't start a poll. However, in future contests, we’ll make it so that the viewers get to vote on a poll. Until there, I’ve deemed several winners

Overall Favorites
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Top Action Photos
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Top Technical Photos


Honorable Mentions


Thank you to all the participants! It was a fun contest.

Dolphin Feature by Shadow-and-Flame-86
To celebrate the leap year, here is an article all about a group of animals famous for their acrobatics: dolphins!

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Mammals, Not Fish
Dolphins are marine mammals, meaning that they breath air, suckle their young and are warm blooded just like all other mammals, but they rely on aquatic environments to live in, which include deep open oceans, shallow coastal seas and rivers. No species of dolphin can live out of the water for very long, their body mass has evolved to be supported by water. But they must come up to the surface regularly for air otherwise they will drown.



Characteristics
Each of the 43 dolphin species have elongated bodies ending in a muscular tail with horizontal flukes that they use to swim with. The dorsal and pectoral fins are used to stabilize them as they move through the water. The size and shape of these fins vary between species. In the largest of the dolphins, the orca, dorsal fins can be up to 2 metres (over 6 feet) tall.

Dolphins are in the family of toothed whales, having numerous small, pointed teeth, which help them to catch their prey. However, the beak size and shape on front of their heads can be very different between different species, ranging from the long beak of the bottlenose dolphin to the square, almost flat head of the pilot whales. On top of their heads, all dolphin species have a single blowhole for breathing. This opening is actually their nostrils that have shifted to the top of their heads though evolution.

All dolphins communicate and detect their surroundings using echolocation. The clicks and whistles dolphins make bounce off objects ahead of them and the time it takes for the sound waves to return to the animal determine how far away the object is. In order to interpret their complex auditory world, dolphin species have among the biggest brains in the animal world. Relative to their body size, dolphins have larger brains than chimpanzees and are also capable of using tools. They are also capable of self recognition and of learning and completing intricate tasks.



Habitat and Range
Dolphins can be found in many habitats around the world. They are found in every ocean and in five large rivers. Some species specialize in living in huge mobile groups, or pods, hunting mobile shoals of fish in the vast open ocean. Others live in shallow coastal environments in smaller groups. They can survive in waters ranging from freezing arctic seas to tropical, balmy waters. Species living in cold areas have thick blubber layers to insulate them against the cold, while those living in hot waters have enlarged pectoral and dorsal fins to radiate heat from their bodies. River dolphins have special adaptations to allow them to live in murky esturine conditions, many have extremely poor eyesight and rely on echolocation entirely to detect their surroundings.

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Nutrition and Hunting
All dolphin species are top predators, but their diet ranges from small schooling fish to large whales. Most oceanic dolphins eat fish and squid, and can dive to great depths pursuing their prey. Some species also act co-operatively in their pods to corral fish into tight balls for easier consumption. Some blunt beaked dolphins also hunt and consume bottom dwelling fish and crustaceans from the sea floor, while species such as the Shark Bay population of bottlenose dolphins in Australia have worked out to use sponges while foraging in the sand to protect their long beaks.

The largest of the dolphin family, the orca, is unique in that various sub-populations have distinctly different diets that set them apart from each other, with some groups eating only fish and others specializing in eating marine mammals. The mammal hunting orcas have some of the most daring and intricate hunting strategies of all dolphins, co-operating to wash seals off icebergs, to tire out and kill large baleen whales or to herd and catch other dolphin species.

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Relationship with Humans
Marine mammals all have a turbulent history with humans, and dolphins are no exception. While dolphins are a hugely charismatic species that many people and cultures feel a strong connection to, there are a number of serious threats to wild dolphins that humans have caused. Dolphins have historically been hunted by people both for food and to use their blubber for fuel. While they have never been hunted on the same industrial scale as the large baleen whales, a significant number are still taken by some countries such as Japan, the Faeroe Islands, and Peru. It is estimated that thousands of dolphins are killed annually for their meat to this day, despite the significant health risks of eating dolphin meat, which contains dangerously high levels of toxic pollutants such as mercury, DDT and cadmium.

In addition to this, hundreds of thousands of dolphins are caught accidentally in fishing nets, with gillnets in particular causing alarming drops in species such as Spinner dolphins, Commerson’s dolphins and La Plata dolphins. Dolphins are also a popular attraction at marine parks, which in the past meant animals were taken from the wild to fuel the demand for performing dolphins. This is now illegal in the USA, and several countries have outlawed the keeping of cetaceans in captivity, but there are still hundreds of animals in dolphinariums throughout the world.

While conditions in these facilities have improved in leaps and bounds since they started in the 1800s, there are still some serious concerns over the welfare of dolphins in captivity, with more and more academics and animal welfare groups claiming that such conditions, and the dolphin shows animals often participate in, are tantamount to animal abuse.



Where can I see them?
As mentioned above, you can see several species of dolphin in captivity, primarily in the USA, Japan, Europe and Mexico. Bottlenose dolphins are by far the most common species, and just over 50 orcas are also kept in captivity. There are many other species in far smaller numbers such as false killer whales, spotted, common and commerson’s dolphins, and other more unusual species that strand and need rescuing are also occasionally in aquariums.

Dolphins can also readily be seen in the wild in any ocean in the world. Whale or dolphin watching trips regularly go out to see wild groups of dolphins, and while some have poor ethics when approaching groups too closely or harassing the animals, many are now adhering to a common code of good conduct to avoid disturbing them. Wild dolphins can also be readily seen on ferry trips if you look, they often make a lot of highly visible splashing when traveling and socializing in big groups. There are many land stations where you can see coastal dolphin species too. Bottlenose dolphins often come within metres of the shoreline and can easily be seen from dry land!

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Thanks!
I hope that this has inspired you to get out and see some of your local species of dolphin; they are much easier to see than many people assume! Do a web search of your local area if you live near the coast, you may be surprised how close an opportunity to see them is (although do be careful to respect their space and environment). I was when I discovered there were dolphins in the UK that I could regularly go and watch! They are fantastic engaging creatures and getting to see and photograph them is always an incredible experience.