// The bottlenose dolphin //

The bottlenose dolphin – a frequent guest of the Nature Park Telašćica

The nature park Telašćica offers its visitors, among other numerous activities, the possibility of staying in untouched nature. The awareness of the validation of the environment and the wish of protecting the natural beauties of this area is created in this way.

Visitors sometimes have the unusual opportunity to enjoy the company of family of dolphins in the waters of the park. Most of them capture this unforgettable moment with cameras to keep the memory of a beautiful and special day.

The bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is a frequent guest of the external but also the internal waters of the park. They are the last sea mammals in the Adriatic. Other types of dolphins and whales stay here only occasionally. It's estimated that about 220 bottlenose dolphins live in the Adriatic.

Dolphins are a protected species in Croatia since 1995, but it is not enough. Without the awareness and knowing the rules of behaviour, no protection law written on paper can be effective enough: it is not allowed to prosecute dolphins, nor should boats be directed towards them. They should be approached very slowly, staying parallel to their course of movement and sudden changes of direction or noise should be also avoided. The best thing to do is to shut down your engine. There should not be more than one boat close to the dolphins in an area of 100 m, and not more than three in an area of 200 mm. When you leave the area of the dolphins, you should accelerate gradually and not before the dolphins are at a distance of 100 m.