Interesting facts about Dolphins
1. Dolphins are mammals
As all mammals, dolphins nurse their young from mammary glands.
2. Dolphins use a technique called echolocation
This technique uses the same principles of a radar, and it is used by Dolphin to find food and navigate.
Like a bat, dolphins use echolocation to navigate and hunt, bouncing high-pitched sounds off of objects, and listening for the echoes.
3. Fish and squid are the diet of the common dolphin
Fish and squid are the diet of the common dolphin, where the dolphins have been seen hunting and working together to herd the fish into tight balls.
4. Dolphin sleep on eye opened
Dolphins sleep with one half of their brain plus one eye closed, then switching to the other side of the brain and the other eye closed during other parts of the day-- slowing down everything inside their bodies and moving very little.
5. Baby dolphins are sucked forward by the motion of their swimming mothers
Baby dolphins are sucked forward by the motion of their swimming mothers -- giving them a needed assist -- when they position themselves to the right and behind their mothers.
6. Dolphin and yellowfin tuna
Because the spinner dolphin swims with the yellowfin tuna, they have been slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands in the purse-seine tuna fisheries, which has produced the controversy that led to the enactment of national and international laws for dolphin safe tuna.
7. Dolphins communicate efficiently.
Dolphins can make a unique signature whistle that may help individual dolphins recognize
each other, collaborate and perform several other kinds of communication.
8. Dolphins can swim up to 260 m. below the surface of the ocean.
However they are mainly shallow divers as they need to reach the surface to breathe.
9. Dolphins can stay up to 15 minutes under water.
They only do this some times as they usually stay only a few minutes diving before reaching the surface for air.
10. Dolphins are social beings.
Dolphins live in groups and co-operate among each other for activities like getting food and calf rising.
Dolphins help other sick or injured dolphins as often as they can, and they work as team if danger is nearby.
11. Dolphins are Cetacenas.
There are 32 species of ocean dolphins and 5 species of river dolphins.
12. The largest dolphin is the Orcas.
Orcas grow up to 6.1 meters long and they are named as whales because their size, but they really belong to the toothed cetacean family just like dolphins do. The other name of Orcas is "killer whale".
13. The most popular dolphin is the "bottlenose dolphin".
Bottlenose dolphins are the ones we have seen in TV series, movies and aquatic shows. Bottlenose dolphins can grow up to 2.5-2.8 meters.
13. The botllenose dolphin brain weighs 1500-1600 grams.
While average human brain weighs 1200-1300 grs. This is not a conclusive evidence of dolphin intelligence as many other factors might be the cause of intelligence according to scientists.
14. Dolphins are warm-blooded.
As mammals, dolphins are warm blooded and their internal temperature is around 36 degrees. To conserve this temperature they are surrounded by a thick layer of fat called "blubber" just below the skin.
15. Dolphins can swim 5 to 12 kilometers per hour.
This will depend on the species and situation, although fastest dolphins can reach up to 32 km/h.
16. Dolphins are not porpoises.
Dolphins are sometimes confused with porpoises (Phocoenidae), but the main difference between the two is the dolphin has a beak-like snout and a curved dorsal fin, whereas the porpoise's head is blunt and its dorsal fin is triangular. Dolphins are mammals, as they have lungs and breath air. In all, there are 79 different kinds of whales, dolphins and porpoises, of which there are 26 types of ocean dolphins and 5 river dolphins.
17. Blubber protect dolphins from low temperatures.
Dolphins have a thick layer of fat called blubber that protects them from the cold temperatures of the icy waters. Those that live in colder waters usually have a thicker blubber than those that live in warmer waters.
18. Gestation for Dolphins.
Gestation for dolphins is about 12 months for a Bottlenose Dolphin, with the young carried in the womb during this time. During birth, the baby emerges tail first and will suckle from its mother for up to four years.
19. The skin of a dolphin has a rubbery feel to it and it is also hairless.
The skin of a dolphin has a rubbery feel to it and it is also hairless, so as they swim through the water the resistance is reduced. But the skin is also very sensitive as, unlike humans, its outer layer is made up entirely of live cells and therefore has no protection to bumps or bruises.
20. Dolphins can be found in many parts of world.
Dolphins can be found in many parts of the world in various oceans and even in the freshwater rivers of Asia, Africa and South America. There are only five species of river dolphins and they all belong to the family Platanistidae. All river dolphins are in danger of extinction due to pollution and dams, and because of this the Whitefin or baiji dolphin Lipotes vexillier of the Chang Jiang River in China is the world's rarest cetacean. There were only an estimated 300 remaining in the early 1990's but in 1995 it was feared that there were less than 100.
21. The gender differences between a male and female dolphin are only noticeable close-up.
The gender differences between a male and female dolphin are only noticeable close-up, with the female having a mammary slit (for birth) on the underside.
22. Body temperature of Dolphins.
Deep within a dolphin's body its temperature is normally 35 degrees to 36.9 degrees, while its outer body temperature is usually cooler. In comparison, man's body temperature is 37.3 degrees.
23. Life span of Dolphin is about twenty years.
Dolphins usually live up to about twenty years, but have been known to live for about forty.
24. Cows, pigs and deer are dolphins closest land relatives.
Dolphins closest land relatives are thought to be cows, pigs and deer.
25. Classification of dolphins.
Dolphins are actually a species of whale, coming under the order of Cetacea, with many people failing to see them in the Odontoceti sub-order.
Classified in the family of Delphinidae, dolphins are in the "Rough Toothed Whale" class due to their conical teeth, and lack of fingernail-like substance that grows from the upper jaws.
26: Male dolphins are called bulls
Male dolphins are called Bulls and female dolphins are called Cows and a baby dolphin is called a calf.
27: Dolphins have excellent vision and well-developed eyes.
Submitted By: Rajat on 11 -Mar-2010 | View: 3417
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