Dolphins live in all the seas but prefer the warmer waters like Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River Lagoon in central Florida.

Humans have a lot in common with dolphins. They form bonds between individuals that may last a lifetime. Each dolphin has a dorsal fin that is as distinctive as a person's face. The skin of the dolphin is extremely delicate and easily injured just like human skin. Dolphins have been observed physically supporting sick or dying pod members. Dolphins can be quite aggressive, even brutal and have been known to abuse weaker members of their pod.

Watching dolphins is a rewarding experience for humans. Dolphins are very playful and fast learners. They play games with bubbles they make. You are likely to see one playing or chasing fish. Wild dolphins are most beautiful and have a presence of their own. They are great teachers, reminding us to regain our playfulness and joy.

Studies indicate that dolphin vocalizations are complex enough to support some form of language. Dolphins have large brains and, like the great apes, they can learn to understand complicated, language-like commands and a structured language. Dolphins mostly communicate by sounds like whistles or pulsed sounds, which sound like squawks, barks, or rasps.

Dolphins and other toothed whales produce high pitched clicks. When these clicks strike an object, some of the sound echoes back to the sender. By listening to the echo and calculating the time it took before the echo came back, the dolphin can determine how far away it is from the object and its size. This is called sonar or echolocation.

Some dolphin species can swim up to 25 miles an hour for long periods. That equals more than three times faster than the fastest human swimmers. Dolphins can jump as high as 20 feet.

The deepest dive ever recorded for a bottlenose dolphin was 990 feet by Tuffy, a dolphin trained by the US Navy. Most dolphins do not dive very deep and many bottlenose dolphins live in quite shallow waters less than 7 feet deep. Most dolphins live in ocean water which is too salty for them to swallow. If dolphins drank sea water, they would use more water trying to get rid of the salt than they had consumed in the first place. Dolphins get most of their water from their diet of fish and squid. When they burn fat, water is released. Also their kidneys are adapted to retaining water. Even though they live in water, they have no direct source of drinkable water.

Dolphins have very sensitive retinas that efficiently gather light so they can see as well beneath the water as above it. They have a very limited sense of smell.

Deep water animals are the species that most often beach in groups. In some highly social species, members may follow a sick leader. Sonar does not represent sloping sandy beach properly. They detect it only when they are almost stranded and they panic.

Dolphins and whales and may be navigating by the earth's magnetic field and could be misled onto beaches by field disturbances.

There is evidence to suggest that when under severe stress or in panic, the dolphins or whales may revert to the behavior of their early ancestors and run towards shore to find safety.

When a solo whale or dolphin beaches itself, it usually is extremely sick and exhausted. There are a number of theories that try to explain the occurrence of groups of dolphins and whales stranding themselves on the beach but no theory can explain all of them.

You may encounter wild dolphins when swimming, boating or snorkeling in certain areas. Remember that in the United States it is illegal to directly approach dolphins. If the dolphins come to you and choose to interact, that is allowed. It is illegal in the US to feed the dolphins, and is highly undesirable, because it changes the dolphins' behavior.