How Do Dolphins Drink Water?

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In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at how dolphins drink water and what makes their drinking behavior so fascinating. By the end of this post, you’ll have a better understanding of why water is so important for dolphins, how they drink it, and what we can learn from their behavior.

So, let’s dive in and explore the world of dolphin drinking!

How Do Dolphins Drink Water?

Dolphin at swimming pool

Dolphins drink water by creating a vacuum with their tongue and throat muscles, which suck in water and prey. They then filter out the salt from seawater before swallowing it. 

Dolphins can also drink through their blowhole and modify their drinking behavior depending on the availability of water and other environmental factors.

Dolphins have a unique anatomy that enables them to swallow water and prey without choking. Their mouth is filled with cone-shaped teeth that help them grasp and shred their food. But it’s their throat that’s really fascinating.

The dolphin’s throat is lined with a complex network of muscles and nerves that allow them to manipulate the shape of their pharynx, or throat cavity. This enables them to create a vacuum that sucks in water and prey.

To drink water, dolphins use their tongue and throat muscles to create a vacuum that sucks in the water. 

They can do this by retracting their tongue and closing off the back of their throat. This creates a negative pressure that sucks in water and small prey like fish and squid.

But seawater contains a lot of salt, which can be harmful to dolphins if they were to drink it directly. 

To filter out the salt, dolphins have special glands located near their eyes that excrete excess salt. 

This process is called osmoregulation, and it allows dolphins to maintain the proper balance of salt and water in their bodies.

So, where does the excess salt go? Dolphins store excess salt in their blubber, which serves as a sort of “salt sink.” 

When they need to expel excess salt, they can do so by shedding their skin or by excreting it through their urine.

Water intake in dolphins

Water is essential for all living creatures, and dolphins are no exception. In fact, water is so important for dolphins that they need to drink it regularly to stay hydrated and healthy.

Dolphins need water for several reasons. For starters, water is necessary for many of the body’s essential functions, including regulating body temperature, transporting nutrients, and removing waste products. 

Water also helps keep the body’s tissues and organs healthy and functioning properly.

Sources Of Water For Dolphins

In the wild, dolphins have access to several sources of water, including seawater, freshwater, and metabolic water.

Seawater is the most abundant source of water for dolphins, but it’s also the most challenging to drink. As we discussed earlier, seawater contains a high concentration of salt, which can be harmful to dolphins if they were to drink it directly. 

However, dolphins have special adaptations that enable them to filter out the salt and drink the remaining water.

Freshwater is another source of water for dolphins, but it’s much less common in the ocean. 

Dolphins can find freshwater in rivers and streams that empty into the ocean or in underground aquifers that seep into the ocean.

Finally, dolphins can also produce metabolic water through the breakdown of food. Metabolic water is the water that’s produced as a byproduct of the body’s metabolic processes. While metabolic water can help supplement a dolphin’s water intake, it’s not enough to meet all of its hydration needs.

Regulating Water Intake

So, how much water do dolphins need to drink per day? 

The answer is that it depends on the species and the environment. In general, dolphins need to drink about 10% of their body weight in water per day. For example, a 300-pound dolphin would need to drink about 30 pounds of water per day.

However, dolphins are able to regulate their water intake based on their environment and their diet. For example, if they’re eating fish that have a high water content, they may not need to drink as much water. 

Similarly, if they’re swimming in cooler water, they may not need to drink as much water as they would in warmer water.

Drinking behavior in dolphins

Now that we know how important water is to dolphins and how they drink it, let’s dive into the fascinating world of their drinking behavior.

Dolphins have two ways to drink water: through their mouth and through their blowhole. 

While they can drink through their mouth like most other animals, they can also drink through their blowhole. 

Drinking through the blowhole allows them to avoid getting seawater in their lungs, which could be dangerous for their health.

Types Of Drinking Behaviors

Dolphins exhibit different types of drinking behaviors depending on their environment and the availability of water. The most common types of drinking behaviors are surface drinking, bottom drinking, and mid-water drinking.

  1. Surface drinking is the most common type of drinking behavior observed in dolphins. It involves the dolphin surfacing and scooping up water into its mouth.
  1. Bottom drinking is another type of drinking behavior where dolphins swim to the bottom of the ocean to drink freshwater that has seeped into the sand.
  1. Mid-water drinking is less common but still observed in some dolphin species. It involves the dolphin swimming to a specific depth in the water column to drink freshwater that has mixed with seawater.

Dolphins are intelligent animals and have the ability to modify their drinking behavior based on environmental factors. 

For example, if freshwater is not available in their usual drinking spots, they will swim farther to find freshwater or rely on metabolic water. They can also adjust their drinking behavior based on the salinity level of the water.


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