World Dolphin Day

Grab your flippers—it's World Dolphin Day. Today, people across the world celebrate, raise awareness, and promote the conservation of these aquatic mammals. Dolphins are highly intelligent and can be found all over the world in oceans, rivers, and estuaries. Despite being able to exist in an array of environments and water temperatures, dolphins are threatened by a variety of human activities, such as hunting, pollution, and fishing. Hunting in particular led to the creation of World Dolphin Day in 2022 by Sea Shepherd Global, an international marine conservation group.
The pod of dolphins seen in today's image was photographed near Réunion, an island in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Madagascar. A wide variety of marine wildlife can be found year-round in Réunion's deeper waters, including many types of sharks, orcas, humpback whales, sea turtles, and of course, dolphins. The island's warm, tropical climate is ideal for these creatures, and spinner, bottlenose, and rough-toothed dolphins swim in the island's crystal-clear waters.
© Joost van Uffelen/Shutterstock