Ivona Jagar.: Sexual maturity in female bottlenose
dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from the
Abstract
Sexual maturity was studied in 30 female bottlenose
dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from Adriatic Sea. As sexually mature we
defined only females who had at least one ovulation scar on the ovaries. We
proved that female bottlenose dolphins from Adriatic sea reach sexual maturity
at the age between 7 and 12 years what is earlier than in other populations of
bottlenose dolphins and upon reaching the overall length over 246 cm. We proved
that the left ovary is more active then the right ovary and that it is
significantly bigger (p=0.0004) and has more scars (p=0.0012).