One female might have four calves in her 20-year life span.
The Maui’s dolphins very low numbers and slow breeding rate makes them vulnerable to extinction – they breed just fast enough to replace the number of dolphins that die naturally and are struggling to recover from human-induced deaths, such as being drowned in set nets.
In fact, Maui’s dolphins are on the brink of functional extinction as a species – that means, while individuals may still be around for a few years, the species itself could die out within a generation – unless we take immediate action to prevent avoidable deaths.
Echolocation
Maui's dolphins spend most of their time making short dives (90 seconds or so) to find fish on the sea floor. They also find fish and squid in mid water and sometimes feed near the surface.
Like other dolphins, Maui's use echolocation to navigate, find food and communicate. High frequency clicks bounce off anything in the water. The clicks can be quite loud - the maximum level recorded is 163 decibels – about as loud as a rock concert – but because the sounds are ultrasonic, we hear nothing.
Behaviour
Feeding takes up a lot of the Maui's time. They also play, chase each other, blow bubbles, fight and jump.
More information
Learn more about the dolphin’s ecology by reading our factsheets.
Report all sightings
Please report every sighting of a Maui’s dolphin – either online, or by calling our Maui’s hotline: 0800 4 MAUIS (0800 468 247).
Maui's dolphin ecology
As with Hector’s dolphins, Maui’s live in small groups in coastal inshore waters, including harbours, estuaries and shallow bays.
