What dolphins eat

Dolphins are predators and they usually eat fish. This is what they are given when you see them participating in dolphin shows -- they are fed fish out of a bucket. Of course, they do not hunt down big sharks but eat fish the size they can handle without having to bite off chunks of it. Dolphins do not bite but swallow. If a fish is too big to fit in their mouth, they generally speaking do not eat it.

Dolphins also eat squid. I am sure they would eat rodents but those are not found in the sea. So they are restricted to whatever they can find in their natural habitat.

Can a dolphin eat a shark?

Following up on the general fascination with dolphins brutalizing sharks, I would like to take a minute and answer a question addressed to me by one of my readers.

Can a dolphin eat a shark?

The answer is yes and no. First of all, dolphins are carnivorous mammals so they eat meat. They persist solely on eating fish. They will eat shark if sharks are fed to them in small quantities. In fact, they will probably eat any other meat if it is "served" right.

At the same time, dolphins do not attack sharks with the aim to eat those. They eat relatively small fish which they can take in at once. They do not have the capacity to tear off chunks of meat from a large animal. So in reality, a dolphin cannot eat a shark, unless the shark is a very small baby shark. Even so, dolphin would probably prefer to eat the kind of fish they usually eat. It is very rare in the animal kingdom that you can introduce a new type of food to an animal which it will like a lot better than what it is used to.

Dolphins in packs and pairs: pictures

Whatever you may say about dolphins, one thing is clear: dolphins are rarely seen alone. They are highly social animals, almost always surfacing in pairs or in packs. When you think of these animals, it is kind of hard to visualize them hanging out alone without company. A dolphin all by itself is a miserable sight.

These pictures also show dolphins in their usual social environment, that is, in the company of other dolphins.


A paid of dolphins enjoying the sunshine that shines through the water.


Another couple. Dolphins have a mouth that makes them look as if they smiled all the time. Or maybe they do smile all the time, huh?


A pack of dolphins near the surface.


Dolphins with more dolphins. Look at the beautiful color of the sea.

Can a dolphin kill a shark?

So here is the question: Can a dolphin really kill a shark?

One thing is clear. Sharks can kill dolphins and sometimes they do. From Janet Mann's book Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales, for example, we learn that at least a third of the examined bottlenose dolphins near Queensland had scars from shark attacks. Dolphins near the Natal coast of South Africa also had scars from shark bites. Dolphin remains in sharks' stomach are also known to be found. But, as Mann points out, no actual cases of sharks attacking dolphins have been observed.

But what about the other way around? We know that a dolphin would not eat a shark but can it inflict injuries that would result in death? In his book The Living Sea, Jacques Cousteau writes that "sea mammals can kill a shark by ramming it at high speed, as dolphins have demonstrated in oceanarium tanks." Now I am no expert in this field so I would have to take professor Cousteau's word for this.

In other words, sharks and dolphins can both be deadly to each other. The other interesting question would be whether they can be friends...

The Dolphinarium

The Dolphinarium

"The dolphins have a six days “working” week, Monday being their relaxation day. This schedule has never been changed. They receive their daily food at 5 or 6 portions, only during training and performances. Their menu contains of 8-10 kg perch pike, sprat, sardines, and their favorite delicates – the herring. The trainings include old elements of the performances, as well as new techniques. The visitors enjoy most of all when dolphins walk on their tails over the water, catch fish from the coach’s mouth, sing. In the moment they are practicing human participation in the pool. Soon new trainees are expected in the dolphinarium – sea lions."