Steve Fagaly, Author at Dolphins And You

Read more about the article Meet the Rough-Toothed Dolphin: Hawaii’s Deepest-Water Ocean Dweller

Meet the Rough-Toothed Dolphin: Hawaii’s Deepest-Water Ocean Dweller

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 16, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

Ask most people which dolphins live in Hawaiian waters, and the answer you will almost always hear is spinner dolphins. The spinners are there, and they are remarkable, but Hawaii is home to more cetacean species than most visitors ever realize. One of the more unusual is a deep-ocean animal that most people have never heard of. The rough-toothed dolphin lives year-round in the offshore waters around the Hawaiian Islands, and it looks, behaves, and lives so differently from everything else out there that spending a few minutes learning about it changes the way you see the ocean.

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Read more about the article What’s Under a Dolphin’s Skin? The Hidden Power of Blubber in Hawaiian Waters

What’s Under a Dolphin’s Skin? The Hidden Power of Blubber in Hawaiian Waters

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 15, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

Most people watching spinner dolphins leap off the Waianae Coast are focused on the jump - the spin, the splash, the sheer speed of it. Almost no one is thinking about what's underneath the skin, but what's there matters more than you might expect. Every Hawaiian spinner dolphin carries a layer of specialized fat called blubber, and it is one of the most efficient biological materials found in the animal world. It keeps them warm, fuels them through lean times, shapes how they move, and carries far more responsibility than its simple name suggests.

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Read more about the article Inside the Pod: How Hawaii’s Spinner Dolphins Organize Their Social World

Inside the Pod: How Hawaii’s Spinner Dolphins Organize Their Social World

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 13, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

When you watch a pod of spinner dolphins moving through the water off Oahu's western coastline, you are watching the result of a sophisticated social system that governs nearly everything these dolphins do. From who they sleep beside to who they hunt with after dark, spinner dolphin pods run on rules that have been refined over millions of years. Here is what is really happening inside a pod and why it matters for every encounter on the water.

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Read more about the article How Long Are Dolphins Pregnant? Inside the Spinner Dolphin Birth Story

How Long Are Dolphins Pregnant? Inside the Spinner Dolphin Birth Story

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 12, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

There is nothing quite like watching a newborn dolphin calf take its first breath beside its mother in the open Pacific. Hawaii's spinner dolphins carry their young for close to a year, and the journey from conception to a leaping, spinning calf racing through Hawaiian waters is one of the most breathtaking stories in the sea. Here is everything you need to know about how spinner dolphins get pregnant, what birth looks like underwater, and how pods care for their newest members.

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Read more about the article Spinner Dolphin Courtship in Hawaii: What Really Happens When Dolphins Fall for Each Other

Spinner Dolphin Courtship in Hawaii: What Really Happens When Dolphins Fall for Each Other

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 10, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

When a spinner dolphin pod starts moving differently off the Waianae coast, it is usually noticeable from the boat. The group gets tighter. Two animals begin swimming in close parallel, nearly touching. One rolls slowly toward the other. What looks like casual play is often something else entirely. Here is what is actually happening and what it reveals about one of the ocean's most complex social species.

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Read more about the article Do Dolphins Feel Pain? The Surprising Science Behind How Dolphins Handle Injury

Do Dolphins Feel Pain? The Surprising Science Behind How Dolphins Handle Injury

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 9, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

When a dolphin surfaces next to a boat with a jagged scar from a shark bite and swims away like nothing happened, a natural question comes up. Do dolphins actually feel pain? The answer is more interesting than a simple yes or no. Dolphins have pain receptors, respond to harmful stimuli, and show clear distress in certain situations. But their biology has also evolved some of the most sophisticated natural pain-management systems in the animal kingdom. Here is what the science says.

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Read more about the article Warm-Blooded in Cold Water: How Dolphins Regulate Their Body Temperature

Warm-Blooded in Cold Water: How Dolphins Regulate Their Body Temperature

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 8, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

Dolphins live in one of the most thermally challenging environments on earth. Despite being warm-blooded mammals that need to maintain a stable internal temperature close to that of a human, they spend every minute of their lives in water that pulls heat away from the body roughly 25 times faster than air does. The biology behind how Hawaii's spinner dolphins handle that challenge every hour of every day is one of the most elegant adaptation stories in the ocean.

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Read more about the article How Do Dolphins Get Fresh Water? The Surprising Science of Dolphin Hydration

How Do Dolphins Get Fresh Water? The Surprising Science of Dolphin Hydration

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 7, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

Most people assume dolphins just drink the ocean water around them. After all, they live in it. But seawater would actually dehydrate them, and their bodies know it. The way Hawaii's spinner dolphins stay hydrated without a single sip of the ocean is one of the most elegant biological systems in the sea.

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Read more about the article The Dolphin’s Melon: What That Remarkable Forehead Actually Does

The Dolphin’s Melon: What That Remarkable Forehead Actually Does

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 6, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

When you watch a spinner dolphin glide past the boat on the Waianae Coast, that smooth, rounded forehead looks almost geometric, like the nose of a submarine. Most people assume it is just the shape of the skull. It is not. That bulge is called the melon, and it is one of the most sophisticated biological instruments in the animal kingdom. Understanding what it does changes the way you see every dolphin you will ever look at.

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Read more about the article Do Dolphins Use Tools? Inside One of Science’s Most Surprising Discoveries

Do Dolphins Use Tools? Inside One of Science’s Most Surprising Discoveries

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 4, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

Tool use was once considered one of the defining traits of human intelligence. Then we discovered chimpanzees using sticks, crows fashioning hooks, and sea otters cracking shells with rocks. Now add dolphins to that list. Wild bottlenose dolphins in Australia have been documented using sea sponges as tools to protect their snouts while hunting on the seafloor, and a 2025 study revealed just how cognitively demanding that behavior actually is. Here is the full story of what dolphins are doing out there, and what it means for how we understand ocean intelligence.

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Read more about the article Why Do Dolphins Strand on Beaches? The Truth Behind Mass Strandings

Why Do Dolphins Strand on Beaches? The Truth Behind Mass Strandings

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 3, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

One of the most heartbreaking events in the ocean world is a dolphin stranding on a beach, alive but unable to return to the sea. It happens with surprising regularity worldwide, including in Hawaiian waters. The causes range from natural illness and injury to human-driven threats like sonar noise and ocean pollution. Here is a clear look at why it happens, what science has figured out, and what you should do if you ever encounter a stranded marine mammal on an Oahu beach.

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Read more about the article Why Dolphins Are Among the Most Playful Animals in the Ocean

Why Dolphins Are Among the Most Playful Animals in the Ocean

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 2, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

If you have ever stood at the bow of a boat off Oahu's west coast and watched a spinner dolphin take a turn surfing the pressure wave at your hull, you already know that dolphins are playful. What might surprise you is that scientists have spent decades studying exactly why dolphins play, and what they have found goes well beyond what most people expect. Dolphins do not just play as babies. They play their entire lives, and the reasons behind that play reveal a level of intelligence, social complexity, and emotional depth that puts them in a very short list of animals on earth.

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Read more about the article 20 Years in the Wild: How Long Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins Actually Live

20 Years in the Wild: How Long Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins Actually Live

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:May 1, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

Hawaiian spinner dolphins are not the long-lived giants of the dolphin world. They are quick-cycling, highly social animals with a lifespan that rarely stretches past 25 years in the wild. Understanding how long they live, how scientists figure it out, and what shortens their time in the ocean gives you a completely different appreciation for every dolphin you see off Oahu's west coast.

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Read more about the article How Do Dolphins Navigate the Ocean? The Secrets Behind Dolphin Wayfinding

How Do Dolphins Navigate the Ocean? The Secrets Behind Dolphin Wayfinding

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:April 30, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

Spinner dolphins return to the same bays along Oahu's Waianae Coast every single morning, year after year, without fail. No GPS, no chart, no landmarks above the water. So how do they do it? The answer is a layered system of biological tools that scientists are still working to fully understand, and it is one of the most fascinating stories in all of ocean biology.

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Read more about the article Do Dolphins Have Teeth? The Surprising Truth About How Spinner Dolphins Bite, Grip, and Feed

Do Dolphins Have Teeth? The Surprising Truth About How Spinner Dolphins Bite, Grip, and Feed

Post author:Steve Fagaly
Post published:April 29, 2026
Post category:1. Dolphins English

Yes, dolphins have teeth. In fact, spinner dolphins have quite a lot of them. But these teeth work nothing like human teeth, and understanding how they function tells you a great deal about how dolphins hunt, eat, and survive in the open ocean. The next time you are out on the water off Oahu's Waianae Coast and a pod of spinner dolphins glides past the bow, those smiling faces hold more information than you might expect.

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