Are there dolphins in France?

Of course, you can also see dolphins in marine parks but if you really love dolphins, you will want to see them free and happy in the ocean. If everybody does that, we would stop capturing them and force them to perform tricks.

Iroise Sea (100 dolphins)

Normano-Breton Gulf(500 dolphins)

Pelagos Sanctuary (30 000 dolphins)

Parc Astérix

Planète Sauvage

Marinelandd’Antibes

You do not have to travel far away to meet dolphins. You can easily find dolphins everywhere on the coasts of France, even though you can find many more dolphins in some areas (see the map below). In the Pelagos sanctuary (South of France), you can even observe whales and sperm whales.

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MiniQuiz

If sharks attack dolphins, what do the others do?

They give up

They help the sharks

They help the dolphins

Dolphins prefer to eat:

Nuggets

Living fish

Dead fish

Dolphins can liveup to: 60

30

10

Flyer made by “C’est Assez!” for the protection of captive marinemammals (dolphins, belugas, orcas).Contact us:

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Do you really know dolphins?

Are dolphins solitary?

How long do dolphins live?

In the wild, bottlenose dolphins (Flipper) can live up to 60. In average, they can live up to 55 for females and 45 for males.

On the contrary, in marine parks, the dolphins do not live that long. As they are very unhappy and sick, they die before they reach 30.

In the wild, dolphins eat fish, squids and sometimes sea food. As they love eating good food, they choose it carefully. They hunt in groups and each dolphin plays a specific part. But if a dolphin is a little hungry, it can hunt alone.

Absolutely not. Dolphins lie in tribes, like American Indians. Several families belong to this tribe and they take care of each other. If a dolphin cannot swim because it is hurt, or too old, the other ones come in help. If shark attack dolphins, the other dolphins will protect them. They are united.

Do they always live at the same place?Yes and no. Dolphins have territories but they cover dozens of km2 and even up to 2000 km2 for larger groups (about 280 000 football fields!). These territories have their playgrounds, hunt grounds, rest areas… All the dolphins know them by heart, that’s why they swim tens of kilometers a day. Their much bigger cousins, orcas, can swim a hundred miles a day.

That’s why dolphins cannot live in a tank. It is a bit like if you had to live in a bathtub for a lifetime.

What and how do dolphins eat?

In marine parks, dolphins are fed with dead frozen fish. It is like you are eating cold fries all the time. To be able to eat, they have to perform shows

Dolphins are mammals, just like humans. It means that they breathe air like us (contrary to fish that breathe underwater), they nurse their babies, like us and their skeleton is similar to ours (they have a spine and a rib cage, just like us).

Hunt ground 80 Km

Playground 50 Km

Rest area 120 Km

In marine parks, dolphins have been captured in the wild and taken from their families. The calves born in captivity are sent to other parks, away from their mother.