When was the bottlenose dolphin discovered in?

Bottlenose dolphins have been around for a very long time, but the exact moment they were "discovered" is difficult to pin down. Here's why:

* Ancient Knowledge: Humans have been aware of bottlenose dolphins for millennia. Early civilizations likely interacted with them, either for food, observing their behavior, or for other purposes. There are depictions of dolphins in ancient art and stories.

* Formal Classification: The first formal scientific classification of the bottlenose dolphin (as *Delphinus delphis*) was by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.

* Evolutionary History: Bottlenose dolphins are mammals that evolved from land-dwelling ancestors over millions of years. Their evolutionary history goes back much further than any recorded human observation.

So, while we can pinpoint a date for Linnaeus' classification, bottlenose dolphins have been a part of the natural world for a very long time, long before any specific moment of "discovery" occurred.