{"id":20913,"date":"2022-09-30T12:14:05","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T10:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=68281"},"modified":"2022-09-30T12:26:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T10:26:11","slug":"why-do-spinner-dolphins-spin","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/why-do-spinner-dolphins-spin\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do spinner dolphins spin?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Sarah McPherson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 30 September 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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T<\/span>rue athletes of the sea, spinner dolphins are famed for doing just that \u2013 leaping out of the water in spectacular 3m aerial corkscrews.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is the how and why of their acrobatic display<\/p>\n

How do spinner dolphins spin?<\/h2>\n
To perform the pirouette, an individual accelerates through the water with rapid pumps of the tail, then uses its muscle power to drive a tight twist as it breaks the surface. Underwater, a spinner can generate one to two rotations per second, but out in the open air it can perform up to seven. The display usually ends with a resounding bellyflop.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<h2>Why do spinner dolphins spin?<\/h2>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">Theories abound as to why spinners spin. The behaviour could convey a state such as happiness, anger or fear; it may be a display of dominance or courtship; it could be play, or a means of detaching parasites and remoras. The splash of the bellyflop may be a method of communication, informing others near and far of an individual\u2019s position in the water.<br\/><\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Where do spinner dolphins live?<\/h2>\n<p>Spinner dolphins live in \u00a0in\u00a0tropical and subtropical oceans and seas around the world and are the most abundant dolphin species in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main image: Spinner dolphin \u00a9 Stuart Westmorland\/Getty images<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\""DetailsRow-moduleassetDetail_T_9Xo"\" data-testid=\""Credit:"\"\/>\n<div class=\""DetailsRow-moduleassetDetail_T_9Xo"\" data-testid=\""Release\" info:=\"\">\n<div class=\""DetailsRow-modulevalue_w2UnW\" detailsrow-modulecell_zhgfh=\"\" undefined=\"\"\/>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sarah McPherson Published: Friday, 30 September 2022 at 12:00 am True athletes of the sea, spinner dolphins are famed for doing just that \u2013 leaping out of the water in spectacular 3m aerial corkscrews.\u00a0 Here is the how and why of their acrobatic display How do spinner dolphins spin? To perform the pirouette, an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":20914,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/09\/why-do-spinner-dolphins-spin.jpg",2129,1409,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/09\/why-do-spinner-dolphins-spin-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/09\/why-do-spinner-dolphins-spin-300x199.jpg",300,199,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/09\/why-do-spinner-dolphins-spin-768x508.jpg",768,508,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/09\/why-do-spinner-dolphins-spin-1024x678.jpg",800,530,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/09\/why-do-spinner-dolphins-spin-1536x1017.jpg",1536,1017,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/09\/why-do-spinner-dolphins-spin-2048x1355.jpg",2048,1355,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Sarah McPherson Published: Friday, 30 September 2022 at 12:00 am True athletes of the sea, spinner dolphins are famed for doing just that \u2013 leaping out of the water in spectacular 3m aerial corkscrews.\u00a0 Here is the how and why of their acrobatic display How do spinner dolphins spin? To perform the pirouette, an…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/20913"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}