Is the common dolphin a cold-blooded killer? Yes. Is it a social animal that cares for its young until they are able to defend themselves? Yes. So can they both be right? Both cold-blooded killer and devoted parent? Read on to find out more.
						A common dolphin child - known as a calf - is able to live with the family for only sixteen months and then, when this time is up, the dolphin must leave. The common dolphin, like any dolphin, is a warm blooded creature. They live for about thirty odd years and eat fish such as cuttlefish and others.
							Unfortunately, they are known to attack and kill porpoises on sight. The reason for this is the echolocation signals that both porpoises and dolphins use. They interact with each other so the dolphin becomes frustrated and so removes the competition by attacking, and killing, the unfortunate porpoise.They do not eat it, just kill it - and they kill quite a few! A quarter of all dead porpoises washed up in Scotland have been killed by other dolphins. The main predators of common dolphins, also known as saddleback dolphins, are killer whales. They are also attacked by sharks but, usually, they scare off sharks by using a loud and disturbing noise. Common dolphins are one of the best known dolphins in the world, with a distinctive yellow flank which is really quite beautiful. It is, on average, six feet and six inches long with a black nose and forty to fifty small, pointed teeth. The dorsal fin is an average size and the pectoral fins are short. Common dolphins eat octopuses and a lot of other strange creatures. They also like to jump out of the water, leaping in and out as they travel. Mating for a dolphin starts at the age of one, two, three and four. Their life ends when they are twenty to thirty years of age unless they are unlucky enough to be killed by commercial fishermen and, sadly, many do die in this manner. Some estimates, for example, reckon that approximately one hundred and thirty thousand dolphins were caught in the Pacific Ocean in a single year.