South Carolina State Marine Mammal

Bottlenose Dolphin Tursiops truncatus Adopted: June 3, 2009

South Carolina State Marine Mammal: Bottlenose Dolphin
Photographs, prints, posters

South Carolina Law

The following information was excerpted from the The South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 1, Chapter 1, Article 9, section 1-1-712.

Title 1 - Administration of the Government
CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
ARTICLE 9. STATE EMBLEMS, PLEDGE TO STATE FLAG, OFFICIAL OBSERVANCES
SECTION 1-1-712.

SECTION 1-1-712. Official state marine mammal.

The "bottlenose dolphin" (Tursiops truncatus) is designated as the official state marine mammal.

Sources...

State of South Carolina. South Carolina Code of Laws. Columbia: State of South Carolina, 2011. Web. 29 May 2011. .
Shearer, Benjamin F. and Barbara S. State Names, Seals, Flags and Symbols: A Historical Guide Third Edition, Revised and Expanded. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 3 Sub edition, 2001.

South Carolina State Marine Mammal: Bottlenose Dolphin
Photographs, prints, posters

Additional Information

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus): National Geographic Society: Animals.

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus): National Oceanic and Atmospheric Asscociation(NOAA): National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources.

Tursiops truncatus (Bottlenose Dolphin): Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce.

Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821): The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (also known as CMS or Bonn Convention). Aiming to conserve terrestrial, marine and avian migratory species throughout their range.

Tursiops truncatus (Bottlenose Dolphin): Smithsonian Museum of Natural History - North American Mammals.

Tursiops truncatus (bottlenosed dolphin): The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Animal Diversity Web.

Tursiops truncatus - (Montagu, 1821), Bottlenose Dolphin: A network connecting science with conservation - NatureServe Explorer: An Online Encyclopedia of Life.

Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821): Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Here you will find authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.

State Marine Mammals: Complete list of official state marine mammals from NETSTATE.COM.

State Mammals: Complete list of official state mammals from NETSTATE.COM.

More symbols & emblems: Complete list of official South Carolina state symbols from NETSTATE.COM.

Dolphin's First Day

Dolphin's First Day: The Story of a Bottlenose Dolphin, by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld. 40 pages. Publisher: Soundprints; Har/Com edition (January 2009) Reading level: Ages 4-8. Little Dolphin learns to speak, to hunt mullet, and to frolic with seaweed. But can this bottlenose baby fend off a shark attack?. Features 32 Page hardcover book with read-along CD (Reading level: Preschool to grade 2, trim size 11 15/16" X 8 3/4") includes glossary full of fascinating facts.

Winter's Tail
Juliana Hatkoff

Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned To Swim Again, by Juliana Hatkoff. 40 pages. Publisher: Scholastic Press (October 1, 2009) Reading level: Ages 4-8. Winter is a dolphin. Just over two years ago, when she was a baby, she was rescued from a crab trap, her tail seriously damaged. Winter was rushed to Clearwater Marine Aquarium, a marine animal hospital. It wasn't clear that she would survive. She did, but eventually the tail fell off and Winter compensated by swimming more like a fish than a dolphin which was seriously damaging her spine. But for the last year, Winter has been learning how to use a prosthetic tail. The idea came from a company that makes prosthetics for humans. It was very challenging but Winter is thriving and using her new tail with great command.

Dolphin Societies

Dolphin Societies: Discoveries and Puzzles, edited by Karen Pryor and Kenneth S. Norris. 405 pages. Publisher: University of California Press (December 10, 1998) Wild dolphins are an elusive subject for behavioral studies: How can you "do a Jane Goodall" on animals usually visible only as a glimpse of rolling dorsal fins heading for the horizon? In this unusual book, two of the best-known scientists in the marine-mammal field have assembled an astonishing variety of discoveries about dolphins. The contributions range from a graduate student's first paper to senior scientists summarizing a lifetime of research. The dolphins they have studied range from tiny spinners to majestic pilot whales, from killer whales to the familiar bottle-nosed dolphin. The research tactics vary just as widely: the researchers have followed dolphins in boats, tracked them from shore, dived among hundreds of them (plus a few sharks) in tuna fishing nets. They have used computers and airplanes, genetic analysis and artificial language, and learned to read the life history of a dolphin from the cross-section of a single tooth.

The Bottlenose Dolphin

The Bottlenose Dolphin: Biology and Conservation, John E. Reynolds, Samantha D. Eide, and Randall S. Wells. 304 pages. Publisher: University Press of Florida; 1st edition (September 3, 2000) The Bottlenose Dolphin presents for the first time a comprehensive, colorfully illustrated, and concise overview of a species that has fascinated humans for at least 3,000 years.

Although comprehensive enough to be of great value to professionals, educators, and students, the book is written in a manner that all dolphin lovers will enjoy. Randall Wells’s anecdotes interspersed throughout the work offer a first-hand view of dolphin encounters and research based on three decades working with them.

Readers of The Bottlenose Dolphin will better appreciate what dolphins truly are and do, as well as understand some of the controversies surrounding them. While raising compelling questions, the book provides a wealth of information on a legendary species that is loved and admired by many people.

Whales & Dolphins
of the World
Mark Simmonds

Whales & Dolphins of the World, by Mark Simmonds. 160 pages. Publisher: The MIT Press (January 21, 2005) Whales, dolphins, and porpoises have fascinated humankind for centuries. Amazingly diverse, they have evolved specializations that allow them, despite being air-breathing mammals, to exploit habitats ranging from surface waters to ocean depths. Whales & Dolphins of the World is a celebration of the variety (more than 80 species), behavior, and natural history of these remarkable animals. Stunningly illustrated by 180 color photographs, it describes what we know of their lives, including feeding, reproduction, communication, and social structures, and surveys the factors that affect them, from hunting to pollution. The book explores the strong relationship between our species and theirs, with a look at dolphin therapy and the pros and cons of whale-watching. It details the forces that threaten whales, dolphins, and porpoises, including hunting, whaling, fisheries, pollution, and habitat destruction, and also describes the conservation actions that must take place in the twenty-first century to save them. A color map of the world highlights the waters in which whales and dolphins are found.

To Touch a
Wild Dolphin
Rachel Smolker

To Touch a Wild Dolphin: A Journey of Discovery With the Sea's Most Intelligent Creatures, by Rachel Smolker. 304 pages. Publisher: Anchor (July 9, 2002) To Touch A Wild Dolphin is a seminal work that radically alters our fundamental understanding of these enigmatic creatures. Learning to identify scores of dolphins by their dorsal fin, Smolker and her team of scientists were able to conduct close and consistent studies that revealed the dolphin to be even more intelligent than we'd previously suspected. And while they were every bit as playful as we?ve known them to be, they also proved to have a dark and alarmingly violent side. But more than just a document on dolphins, this book is a touchingly personal look at the life of a scientist, at the rigors and sacrifices but also the wonders and joys of unending days in the field. Written with prose poetic and pristine, this book is nothing short of a landmark.