Use echolocation to find food. The dolphin makes sounds that bounce off of the fish and back to the dolphin. Females reach sexual maturity around 10 years of age or sooner. Males reach sexual maturity at about 10 years of age or later. Over the centuries, man has become increasingly intrigued by the dolphin.
Dolphins are friendly, playful, and most of all, very smart.
It is for these purposes that bottle-nosed dolphins have been captured live for the past 80 years from the Gulf of Mexico. Today, the numbers of live captures has significantly decreased partly due the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. Before this act was passed, dolphins were unintentionally killed by the thousands in tuna fishing nets. Since larger yellowfin tuna travel in large groups with the dolphins, fisherman ended up killing the dolphins when surrounding the tuna with nets. Since 1990, a tuna boycott forced the tuna industry to purchase tuna caught on boats that fished in areas where there were no dolphins.