Dolphins are known for being playful, adorable, and very intelligent. In fact, many have called them the geniuses of the ocean. Maybe that’s why they’re so popular and beloved around the world! We might be familiar with their beautiful faces, but how much do we know about these graceful creatures? These fascinating dolphin facts for kids are perfect for lesson plans or trivia in the classroom.
Even though they look like big fish, dolphins are mammals that belong to the whale family. They are marine mammals that can be found in tropical and temperate oceans (oceans with mild temperatures) around the world.
Even though they are closely related and look so much alike, dolphins and porpoises are different. Typically, dolphins are larger and have longer snouts.
Dolphins eat mostly fish, but they also eat crustaceans such as squid and shrimp.
The scientific name for bottlenose dolphins is tursiops truncatus. Watch this video to learn more about bottlenose dolphins.
Bottlenose dolphins are social creatures that travel in groups, or pods, of around 10 to 15.
This is their average life span in the wild.
Much like humans have names, dolphins are identified by a special whistle that each creates soon after being born. Watch this video about how dolphins name themselves.
They squawk and whistle and also use body language to communicate, like slapping their tails on the water, blowing bubbles, snapping their jaws, and butting heads. They even leap as high as 20 feet in the air!
The high-frequency clicks dolphins produce bounce off objects in the water, and those sounds bounce back to dolphins as echoes. This sonar system tells dolphins the location, size, shape, speed, and distance of the object. Watch this video to learn more.
It’s believed that sounds travel to the dolphin’s inner ear through its lower jaw before being transmitted to the brain.
This sloughing rate, which is nine times faster than humans, helps improve swimming efficiency by keeping their bodies smooth.
It’s located on the top of the dolphin’s head. When dolphins come up to the water’s surface for air, they open the blowhole to inhale and exhale and close it before dipping below the ocean surface. They can hold their breath for about seven minutes!
These very playful and social mammals spend decades protecting, mating, and hunting with their close friends. They also cooperate to raise young dolphin calves together. Check out this amazing video of a dolphin super-pod.
They easily glide through the water using their curved dorsal fin, pointed flippers, and powerful tail.
These sea mammals enjoy surfing in the wakes and waves of boats and swimming through self-made bubble rings.
These sea mammals cooperate as a group to create a mud ring to trap fish. Some will even wait outside of the ring to eat the fish that try to escape.
All around the world, dolphins can be found far out in the deep, dark water as well as the shallow water close to shore.
They have 18 to 26 teeth on each side of the upper and lower jaws.
Dolphins may have a lot of teeth, but they don’t use them for chewing. Instead, their teeth are designed to grasp food so they can swallow it.
They don’t have hair or sweat glands, and their outer layer of skin (epidermis) is up to 20 times thicker than the epidermis of humans.
They have large brains, are quick learners, and have demonstrated problem-solving, empathy, teaching skills, self-awareness, and innovation. Watch this incredible video of a dolphin answering questions!
Their brains, bodies, intelligence, and even sensory systems have evolved over millions of years to adapt to various changes in their habitats.
Dolphins sometimes get trapped in the garbage humans leave on the beach. This has become a major problem. Watch this video about how we can keep plastics out of our oceans.
These sounds travel under the water until they reach an object, then bounce back to the dolphin, allowing them to understand the location and shape of the object hit.
Because dolphins swallow their food whole, they need three stomachs to help digest their food.
Instead, the noises that dolphins make actually come from their blowhole.
A baby dolphin, named a calf, is born with whiskers that fall out soon after birth.
This aids the dolphin in finding prey and helping it survive.
These dolphins are more agile than other species of dolphins due to their surroundings, and they have vertebrae in their necks to turn their heads a full 180 degrees. Check out this video of the Amazon River dolphins in action!
Dolphins have been observed using sponges to protect their snouts while they forage for food at the bottom of the water.
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