Dolphins
Trivia about Dolphins
A baby dolphin will suckle from its mother for up to four years.
The maximum lifespan of bottlenose dolphins is between 40 and 50 years.
Dolphins have to be conscious to breath so they can't go into a full, deep sleep (they would suffocate). Dolphins let one half of their brain sleep at a time.
On average, an adult dolphin will eat 4-9% of its body weight in fish each day.
A dolphin's snout is called a rostrum.
All dolphins use echolocation (a series of rapid clicks) to locate objects, such as prey and obstacles.
Dolphins make a variety of very high-pitched squeals, whistles and whines.
These noises are used to communicate with each other.
A dolphin brain weighs 3.5 pounds. A human brain weighs about three pounds.
There are 79 different kinds of whales, dolphins and porpoises, of which there are 26 types of ocean dolphins and five river dolphins.
Gestation for dolphins is about 12 months.
Unlike humans, the outer layer of a dolphin's skin is made up entirely of live cells. Dolphins have no protection against bruises.
All river dolphins are in danger of extinction. The Baiji dolphin of the Yangtze River in China is the world's rarest cetacean.
Every dolphin has its own distinct whistle to distinguish it from other dolphins, akin to a human fingerprint.
A dolphin's forehead is called a "melon" due to its distinctive shape.
Some dolphins can hold their breath for up to 30 minutes at a time.
The closest land relatives to dolphins are thought to be cows, pigs and deer.
Dolphins are of the aquatic mammal family Delphinidae.
Male dolphins are called bulls, females are called cows.
Mother dolphins produce milk that is very rich in fat, often up to 50%.
During echolocation, dolphins can emit up to 700 clicking sounds per second.
The land ancestor of the dolphin lived about 50 million years ago and looked similar to a wolf.
The largest dolphin is the orca, sometimes called the Killer Whale.
Dolphins once were hunted commercially for the small quantity of oil extracted from parts of the head used to lubricate watches.
Adult bottlenose dolphins can be up to 13 feet long and can weigh more than 1,000 pounds.
Dolphins use their teeth to catch food. They don't chew.
Sea cucumbers are a popular delicacy among dolphins.
Dolphins can swim up to 650 feet below the surface of the ocean.
A dolphin can swim as fast as 35 miles per hour.
Dolphins don't have ears. They "hear" through a special bone in their lower jaw.
The word dolphin means "beaked."
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The information on this page was forwarded to us via e-mail. We have no idea where the information came from or if the information is correct.
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