This is one tenacious dolphin.
Despite the fact that dolphin digestive and respiratory tracts are not connected, this dolphin, identified as a Hector’s dolphin, has somehow found a way to move its larynx so it can breathe in this way.
Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) explained on their website, “Dolphins do not breathe through their mouths in the same way as people can, they only breathe through their blowholes. In this way, breathing and eating are kept entirely separate in dolphins so that they can capture prey in their mouths and swallow it without the risk water getting into their lungs.”
There is always an exception!
Dr. Stephen Dawson and his research team from the University of Otago were studying Hector’s dolphins when they noticed that this particular individual’s blowhole didn’t open normally.
The dolphin has apparently suffered an injury or was born with a deformity that left him or her unable to breathe normally.
Thankfully, the animal has been able to adapt and appears to be in excellent shape despite the circumstances.
In Dawson’s paper, which was recently published in Marine Mammal Science, he wrote: “In every surfacing we observed, the dolphin approached the surface at a steep angle, with its head emerging higher than normal from the water surface.” Getting its head out of the water allows the animal to take in gulps of air before going back underwater.
Hector’s dolphins are the smallest and rarest dolphins in the world and are found only in the waters off of New Zealand.
Watch the footage that Dawson’s team captured here:
