By TOSHIYUKI TAKEYA/ Staff Writer
April 13, 2022 at 08:00 JST
Editor's note: This is part of a series of videos offering an up-close perspective on the animal kingdom. A special 360-degree video camera system was set up in zoos and other facilities to show how the animals view their world as they interact.
Also visit our special 360-DEGREE LIVES page (http://t.asahi.com/360lives), where you can watch all the previous videos.
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To watch common bottlenose dolphins swimming gracefully in a tank at the Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium in the Miyagi prefectural capital is like immersing oneself in a mysterious work of art.
Common bottlenose dolphins are widely distributed along coastlines in tropical and temperate seas.
The marine mammal is gray in color, fading to white on its belly.
They generally grow to about three meters long and weigh around 260 kilograms when fully grown.
Their spindle-shaped bodies are perfectly adapted for life in the water and they can swim at speeds of up to 40 kph.
The aquarium uses four common bottlenose dolphins for its shows. Trainers give hand signals to prompt the creatures to show off their acrobatic tricks.
"Our common bottlenose dolphins are curious and show an interest in everything," said attendant Mika Kimura.
The mammals grab handmade floats, ropes and other items in their mouths to play with, and closely observe how humans act, she added.
Fifteen minutes of underwater footage taken by Kimura showed dolphins coming close to her and making sounds that suggested they were trying to communicate with the attendant.
Dolphins have an inbuilt echolocation system that generates ultrasonic waves and determines characteristics of objects using reflected sound.
They also use it to communicate with each other.
To address a lack of exercise, trainers get the dolphins to swim faster, leap into the air and perform other routines that require physical exertion.
Their movements are accompanied by music and other staging effects to heighten enjoyment of the performances.
Other training sessions are aimed at keeping the mammals healthy and providing any health care treatment they need.
Staff members also measure their weight, take their temperature and collect their urine and feces to test for any signs of disease.
Training time varies depending on each dolphin's personality, the amount of practice time per day, the trainer's skills and other conditions.
For example, it takes about a week to train dolphins to swim fast halfway around the rim of a pool, and up to one year for them to gain the confidence to give a trainer a ride on their back.
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Lit by sunlight filtered through the water, common bottlenose dolphins gracefully swim in a tank at the Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium in Sendai. (Toshiyuki Takeya)
