Bottlenose dolphins (Size: 3 to 3.9 metres.)have a
relatively short, stubby beak with 21 to 29 pairs of teeth
in each jaw. The mouth curves up in a permanent
‘smile’. They have a prominent, hooked dorsal fin
located in the middle of the body. The flippers are of a
moderate length and are pointed at the tip.
Generally, the upper body is dark grey and grades to
white on the belly, though some may be the one colour.
However, between individuals the grey colour varies
through many shades.
Bottlenose dolphins are easily identified as the dolphins used in the television program ‘Flipper’.
They are playful, actively pursuing vessels and riding with ease and grace in the bow wave. Most of
the dolphins in Australian dolphinaria are bottlenose dolphins.
They are widely distributed and are often seen close inshore. This is the species seen at Monkey
Mia in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Some coastal populations have a restricted distribution,
residing in a particular bay or coastal region. Bottlenose dolphins are the most common stranded
cetacean in Australia, usually singly or in small groups.
Common dolphins (Size: 2.1 to 2.5
metres)have a relatively high dorsal fin,
pointed flippers, a relatively long beak
and 45 to 51 pairs of small teeth in each
jaw.
The back is grey to black and the tip of
the beak and lips are mainly black. A
black bridal extends from the black patch
around each eye toward the beak, and a
dark line extends from the base of each
flipper to the underside of the lower jaw.
The side of the body has a criss-cross or
hourglass pattern. The colour of the
criss-cross pattern near the tail is usually grey, while near the head it varies from white through
grey to yellow or ochre.
Common dolphins are widely distributed and seen frequently (at times in large groups) in Australian
waters. They are playful animals, riding easily in the bow wave of a vessel and swimming in a
spectacular fashion. This species can be confused with the striped dolphin.
Apart from bottlenosed dolphins, common dolphins strand more often than other dolphins. After
death, the bright colours and finer markings may disappear making identification difficult.
Humpback whales (Size: 14 to 19 metres, average 14 to 15
metres) have a stocky body with a broad head and long flippers
up to one third of the total body length. The dorsal fin is small,
often sitting on a ‘hump’ in the back. Knobby protruberances
with a bristle hair and often with barnacles growing on them
occur on the head, jaws and flippers. The lower jaw has a
rounded projection near its tip. The rear margin of the tail flukes
and leading edge of the flippers is scalloped.
The body is black on the back and white underneath and sometimes on the sides. The flippers and
underside of the tail flukes are usually white. The baleen plates are black.
Humpback whales migrate from Antarctica to the sub-tropical waters of Australia to give birth and
mate during winter and spring. Consequently whale watchers are most likely to see this species in
the coastal waters of eastern and western Australia. Humpback whales frequently perform
spectacular aerial leaps, often raise their tail flukes before diving and ‘sing’ long complex ‘songs’
during the breeding season. Individuals can be identified from the colour pattern under the tail.
Southern right whales (Size: 13 to 18 metres, average 15
metres.) are robust and have a strongly arched mouth and
long baleen plates. Large white bumps (callosities) occur on
the top of the head, along the edges of the lower jaw and
along the eye. Southern right whales have no dorsal fin. The
flippers are large and rounded and the flukes have a broad
smooth rear margin separated by a deep notch. The flukes
are often lifted out of the water as the animal dives.
Southern right whales are predominantly black but some may
have patches of white.
Southern right whales migrate to the southern coasts of Australia each winter. Because of their
habit of calving or resting with young calves in shallow water just beyond the surf line, they are
easily observed, particularly from headlands.
The early whalers regarded the southern right whales as the ‘right’ whales to hunt. They are slow
swimmers, float when dead and yield much oil and baleen. Consequently, early whaling in Australia
took large numbers of southern right whales and now only a few hundred visit the Australian coast
each year. The shapes of the white callosities on the head are unique for each individual and
provide an easy means of identification. Southern right whales rarely strand.