9781422275085

INTRODUCTION

The position of the ear of this bottle-nosed dolphin can be seen in a small pit behind the eye. Hearing is quite important in dolphins, which communicate with each other by means of a variety of sounds, some of them being clicks audible to humans.

I t is 6:30 on a summer evening. The sun is still warm and reflected in a mirror-like sea. A short way offshore in the deep channel separating a rocky island from the steep cliffs of the mainland, a shoal of mackerel breaks up the calm reflections in a frenzy of boiling water as they chase small fry to the surface. Suddenly, curved black fins slice through the mackerel shoal as a school of bottle-nosed dolphins arrive to catch the fish, repeatedly cutting through the shoal, their glistening, black backs shining in the eve- ning sunlight. A flock of gleaming white gannets spots the turmoil in the water andmore than 20 of the large birds plunge-dive for the mackerel in the midst of the feeding dolphins. For several minutes the feeding frenzy continues as mackerel pursue small fry, and gannets and dolphins pursue the mackerel. Then, without any warning, a tall, black fin, dwarfing the short, curved fins of the dolphins, breaks

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