Hector's dolphins are still caught off the Canterbury coast, outside the Banks Peninsula sanctuary. A great resource to show the life cycle of the Hector's dolphin and the Maui's dolphin.Tags in this resource: Hectors-Dolphin-Mother--Calf-Black-and-White.pngHectors-Dolphin-Mother--Calf.pngDolphin-Embryo-Black-and-White.pngDolphin-Embryo.pngHectors-or-Mauis-Dolphin-Black-and-White.pngHectors-or-Mauis-Dolphin.png They are found only in the inshore waters of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

But if their stomachs are full, they love to play around the boats, riding the bow wave, swimming sideways, splashing their tales, jumping out of the water just enjoying – all with the purpose of having fun! Also called the North Island Hector’s dolphin, Māui’s status as a separate subspecies was proposed by scientists in 2002. Forty is an old age for a dolphin -- one making it to 40 is comparable to a human living to be 100.

Fishing is the most significant known threat to Māui’s and Hector’s dolphins. Predators of the Hector's Dolphin include the Orca and sharks. Hector’s dolphins are among the world’s smallest marine dolphins, growing to around 1.5m in length.

In addition Banks Peninsula, Catlins Coast, Clifford and Cloudy Bay and Te Waewae Bay marine mammal sanctuaries had been created to protect Hector's dolphins, and the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary had been established to protect both Hector's and Māui's dolphins. To casual observers, Hector’s and Māui’s dolphins look alike.

The female is sexually mature at the age of 7 – 9 years and can live up to 20 years. They are black and grey with a mainly white belly, with a distinctive rounded black dorsal fin and a blunt rostrum (beak).

In 2010–11 it was estimated that there were only 48–69 Māui's dolphins over the age of one year. Additionally they are at risk because of fishing nets. Dolphins can use echolocation as well.

Some individuals may live longer than this, but the ages are comparable to those recorded for other Cephalorhynchus species.

They send out a stream of clicks and ‘read’ the echo that bounces back from hard surfaces, such as a rock wall or the taut swim bladder of a fish.

The pingers are placed at 100-metre intervals along a net, and are activated by a battery lasting 30 days. Out of more than 80 Hector's which have been dissected – some of them caught in fishing nets – the oldest recorded ages have been 19 years for a female and 20 for a male. Finding food and navigating under water by vision alone is tricky in murky water.

Māui’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori maui) is a northern subspecies. Besides their small size compared with other dolphin species, they are characterized by having a rounded black dorsal fin, and dark facial markings. Although some bottlenose dolphins can reach 40 years of age, their average age is between 15 and 16 years. Distribution of Hector’s and Māui’s dolphins, Distribution of Cephalorhynchus dolphins around the Southern Ocean. The other main concentration is around Banks Peninsula, with smaller groups off Cloudy Bay in the Marlborough Sounds and in Te Waewae Bay, Southland.

Adult The female is sexually mature at the age of 7 – 9 years and can live up to 20 years. Hector’s dolphins live to around the age of 20-25 years old, which is similar to us living until we are 85-90!

The life cycle of dolphins is similar to that of land mammals. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

Māui’s dolphin is found off the North Island’s north-west coast, between Dargaville and New Plymouth. Background: Hector’s dolphin. This enables them to ‘see’ the hard parts of prey, or solid objects like rocks, but because nets are soft and flexible they do not bounce sounds back to the dolphin.

This is 1.7% of its total body weight – one of the highest proportions in the animal kingdom. © Crown Copyright. The dolphins cannot easily detect the nets, even when using echolocation (similar to sonar).

Life Span: Hector's Dolphins have been injured or killed as a result of boat strikes.

Their lifespan is about 20 years.
When they dive underwater, they hold their breath. Genetic studies show there is no mixing between these populations. Gerard Hutching, 'Dolphins - Hector’s and Māui’s dolphins', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/dolphins/page-3 (accessed 24 September 2020), Story by Gerard Hutching, published 12 Jun 2006, updated 1 Sep 2015.