All you need to know about the largest cetacean that we call ‘dolphin’, from why it has so few teeth to why it has so many scars. <\/p>
Risso\u2019s clock in at up to 4m in length and up to 500kg in weight. The species is the biggest of the cetaceans we call \u2018dolphins\u2019. They have blunt heads with an indistinct beak and a V-shaped cleft at the front, and a tall dorsal fin. There is a huge variation in colour, according to, among other things, age and region.<\/p>\n
Worldwide, from tropical to cool temperate waters, but they\u00a0prefer the deep waters beyond the edge of continental shelves. They can be seen off the UK \u2013 the\u00a0majority of UK sightings are off the west coast of Scotland and the Outer Hebrides.<\/p>\n
Risso\u2019s is the most heavily scarred of all dolphins. They are born grey and gradually accumulate pale scarring as they age, to the extent that they can appear almost white. These scratches are known as \u2018rake marks\u2019 and are inflicted by members of their own species when playing or fighting, using the teeth. The scarring patterns are unique and can help scientists to identify individuals.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> The species is named after French naturalist Antoine Risso (1777-1845), who is also immortalised in the names of Risso\u2019s lanternfish and many species of marine snail<\/p>\n Risso\u2019s dolphins mostly prey on squid and octopus, but are also known to take cuttlefish and krill<\/a><\/strong>. They tend to \u2018suck in\u2019 their food, rather than chomping it down using their teeth, which explains why they have relatively few \u2013 just 2 to 7 pairs in their lower jaw, and only vestigial teeth in the upper jaw. In comparison, a bottlenose dolphin, which uses its teeth to capture prey, has more than 80 teeth across both jaws. Risso\u2019s use their teeth more for social interactions.<\/p>\n Gestation is around 13-14 months. Females form \u2018nursery pods\u2019 and take it in turn to forage while others look after the young. It\u2019s still not known when weaning takes place.<\/p>\n Risso\u2019s dolphins are not as well known as other dolphin species, and there is still a lot we don\u2019t know about them. Studies are currently being carried out off the Balearic Islands\u00a0by the Altinak Research Institute<\/a>. The species was recently declared Endangered by the IUCN<\/a><\/strong> in these waters.<\/p>\n Main image \u00a9 Enrique Aguirre Aves\/Getty<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n All you need to know about the largest cetacean that we call ‘dolphin’, from why it has so few teeth to why it has so many scars. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25949,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/rissos-dolphin-guide-how-they-feed-where-they-live-and-why-they-are-so-heavily-scarred-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/rissos-dolphin-guide-how-they-feed-where-they-live-and-why-they-are-so-heavily-scarred-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/rissos-dolphin-guide-how-they-feed-where-they-live-and-why-they-are-so-heavily-scarred-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/rissos-dolphin-guide-how-they-feed-where-they-live-and-why-they-are-so-heavily-scarred-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/rissos-dolphin-guide-how-they-feed-where-they-live-and-why-they-are-so-heavily-scarred-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/rissos-dolphin-guide-how-they-feed-where-they-live-and-why-they-are-so-heavily-scarred-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/rissos-dolphin-guide-how-they-feed-where-they-live-and-why-they-are-so-heavily-scarred-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,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":"All you need to know about the largest cetacean that we call 'dolphin', from why it has so few teeth to why it has so many scars.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25948"}],"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\/25949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Who is Risso\u2019s dolphin named after?<\/h2>\n
What do Risso\u2019s dolphins eat?<\/h2>\n
How do\u00a0Risso\u2019s dolphins breed?<\/h2>\n
What Risso\u2019s dolphin research is taking place?<\/h2>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"