Swimming wif Dolphins

I always wanted to swim wif dolphins...I remember my first encounter with them. I was 4 years old and my mum brought me to seaworld where we watched a dolphin show and when the trainer asked for a volunteer to come up somehow I was thrusted forward to get a kiss from a dolphin. It felt wet and hard.
When Dian invited me to go to Ancol Seaworld i was so so excited I accepted immediately. So she called her friend to arrange the swim. But then i later realised i just had a perm so i had to postpone the swim. Had to wait 2 long days... Such sacrifices. LOL.




By the sea side in Ancol...

















But first, i MUST eat bakmi ayam...

















Then off we go to ANCOL SEAWORLD!

well hullooooo!...
Before joining them in their pool, best to bribe them a li'l first with fish!

In the wild, these dolphins feeds on squid, shrimp, eels, and a wide variety of fishes. In some waters, bottlenose dolphins habitually follow shrimp boats to consume what the shrimpers discard or miss. They often hunt as a team, herding small fishes ahead of them and picking off the stragglers.
They generally consume approximately 6-7kg of seafood DAILY.
Whoa...that’s A LOT of seafood. YUMMY!!

This dolphin is so clever. After i bribed him, he swam closer towards me so i could stroke him. Incentive for me to feed him more!

(On first touch...wet, slippery and hard! Just like i remembered...)
The "BOTTLE NOSED" is distinguished by the short, well-defined snout or beak that apparently resembles the top of an old-fashioned gin bottle (hence the name).



ok, time to get in and play!!

I was initially nervous but they were so friendly and playful that soon after we got along just fine!!

The beloved bottlenose dolphin is a distinctly social species that often travels in groups of up to 12, though occasionally can go up to several hundred. Most populations do not migrate, but travel fairly widely to find food or locate warmer waters. They swim at speeds of approximately 19 km/h.

They display a wide variety of vocalizations and is hypothesized to have a complex language. Researchers hope to eventually use this language to communicate meaningfully with dolphins. : )

Each dolphin appears to have its own distinctive whistle used to communicate information on its identity, location, and condition to other dolphins. Sort of like our facebook profile with status updates! Dolphins also use click-like pulses produced by nasal sacs in the forehead for echolocation...like a built-in GPS-how cool!

Males fight viciously over females during the breeding season (sort of like men fighting over me..muahaha...but I shan’t dwell on that.) Generally a hierarchy is established among males based on size.

The beginning of the brief pair bond takes place when the male shows a preference for a particular female and remains with her for prolonged periods of time.

The male often postures in front of the female with his back arched. “Precopulaory behavior” (aka foreplay) includes “mouthing” (I guess this can pass off as kissing), jaw clapping (not sure how this is sexy…but I ain’t no dolphin…) and yelping (this one maybe…heheh).

He also strokes, rubs, and nuzzles her. Even male dolphins know how to do foreplay! Some men need to learn from them. Hahahah.

Courtship can sometimes be rather violent, with male and female bumping heads forcefully. OMG. I can understand why sometime violent sex can be kinky but not THIS VIOLENT!!! Intromission is rapid…about10 seconds…which is super fast la. (Poor female dolphin, kena head bumped still no chance to enjoy). But may be repeated…(so not so char-toh la)

Corpulation (also known as jiggy jiggy or pong pong or SEXXXYYYY time in my books…) takes place underwater belly to belly when the female rolls over on her side, presenting her ventral surface (belly) to the male.

The normal age gap between calves (dolphin babies) is 2-3 years, but another offspring may be produced a year later if the first calf dies at birth.

Gestation (or “pregnancy” in lay men’s term) is 12 months. Newborn calves are 98-126cm long and weigh 9-11 kg. Lactation aka breast-feeding lasts from 12-18 months. (OMG I never knew dolphins have breasts!!!) But young begin to eat solid food when less than 6 months old. Mother and calf often stay close until the young is 4 or 5 years old. The mother-calf bond is so strong that females have often been observed holding stillborn or otherwise dead babies at the surface…

Females become sexually mature at 5-12 years of age, while males are mature at 9-13 years.

(no he is NOT doing what you think he is doing!!)

The bottlenose dolphin is the largest of the beaked dolphins weighing in at150-200kg.

Head and body length is 1¾ - 4 meters with males being much larger than females. Pectoral fin (their cute “arms”) length is 30-50cm, and dorsal fin height is approximately 23cm. Width of the tail flukes is about 60 cm.

Bottlenosed dolphins have been used since 1949 in shows like Seaworld because they are easily trained to perform acrobatics, locate hidden objects and play with balls.

My friend Rita told me that Seaworld in Hong Kong trains the dolphins for marriage proposals. Imagine that you’re watching a dolphin show with your boyfriend when the dolphin swims up to you, opens his mouth and surprises you with a dee-ar-mond ring!

Just make sure you find a really intelligent dolphin la… If not there goes your XXX amount of money spent on the ring!

They are also used widely in research work involving cetacean physiology, psychology and sociology. Dolphins have been hunted by people in many parts of the world for meat (ew...) and products (such as fertilizer, body oil for cooking and illumination, and jaw oil used as a lubricant in fine machinery) made from dolphin parts. (I think this is really cruel. Lucky I only eat Shark’s fin. Muahaha…)

Fisherman sometimes shoot bottlenose dolphins because they believe the dolphins are competing with them for fish and other desirable catch. (And I think this is really stoopid. Can’t catch enough fish, so shoot dolphins? That’s like blaming your Dad for giving you hairy arms. Yea, I can be stoopid too. But quite rare la.)

At one point 1 of the dolphins started head butting me because i wanted to ride on her but she wasn't in the mood. Her trainer blew his whistle and scolded her sternly. Apparently she was pregnant and had pretty bad mood swings!

(so decided to chill out for a bit instead!)

(Here with Dian and Mr. Dolphin Trainer...A really nice guy!)

(she's such a pro with them!)

After saying goodbye to the 3 lovely sea mammals, for some strange reason, i just HAD to have seafood for dinner!

Can't wait to swim with them again... Thanks Ny, Dian & Mr. Dolphin Trainer, you're all awesome!!!


*****

http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=33