Hector's Dolphins

Dolphins are mammals of the sea. Mammals are warm blooded and give birth to live young. The smallest dolphins are 1.4m in length.Hector's Dolphins are one of the four species of Cephalorhynchus.


Hector's Dolphins have no visible beak and a rounded Dorsal fin. The tip of the dolphins beak are black. His dolphins have a grey forehead with streaks of black and their throat and chest are white. The dolphins have a belly that is white with stripes running up the sides from under the Dorsal fin. Hector's dolphins are 9kg at birth and can grow to 40-60 kg and they live up to 20 years of age.


Hector's dolphins eat fish,squid and some crustaceans like crabs and lobsters. Hector's dolphins can chase fish with echolocation around the harbour. They don't detect many of the hundred of gillnets sets.Hector's dolphins are endangered because the get entagaled in nets and drown.


Hector's dolphins are unique to New Zealand. Their are 2 kown main populations on each side of the South Island. They are cut off from one another because they are unwilling or unable to cross deep water.Hector's dolphins are sighted at about 10 km offshore in summer.


In 1988 marine reserves created around Banks Penisula to prohibt gillnet activity in the area. Other threats to these animals are boat propeller collisions. Their increase in numbers have not yet been recorded. Hector's dolphins are one of the rarest marine animals in the world is classified as criticly endangerd.