Hector Dolphins

Hector Dolphins are only found in New Zealand which means that they are native to our country.

Hector dolphins have rounded fins and they are mammals. Hector Dolphins can be black,grey and white.They have a breathing hole which looks like a deep hole and their teeth are also sharp.Hector Dolphins are quite small because they are only about two metres long.

Hector Dolphins like to hang around certain places around the North Island and the South Island. But they don't like playing in the open ocean - they only like the bays. They can be found in the Catlins not too far from Lawrence.

They like to eat mullet,fish,crabs,squid and other small sea creatures that go past. When they try and find their food they  try and sense it.

Hector Dolphins have one baby every two to three years and that's pretty sad because that means we don't have many left in the world.They like to chatter and play in the bay,muck around and go close to people.They like to swim in groups of two to twelve so most of them survive.When they are born they are about 50 centimeter long and they swim with their mum so they don’t get lost in the sea.Hector Dolphins like to swim around kayaks and boats because there are people on them.They can only live up to 15 to 18 years old and that is pretty sad that they only live that long because there are only 110 left in the world.

There are only that many Hector Dolphins because they keep on getting caught in the nets from the fishing boats when they come quite close to the shore and they breath air like us people.they drown so easily without much air.

When a dolphin is caught in a net it can't come up to the surface.Thousands of NZ people are cleaning the environment so when the tide comes in it doesn't wash all the rubbish out to sea and kill the Hector Dolphins because sometimes they eat the rubbish.