- Status: Safe
- Temperate and tropical seas worldwide, including coasts
Numbers
- Weight
- 1400 lbthe material indicates only the maximum value; Wikidata does not report any measurement for this species
- Length
- 10 ftintermediate value of the range indicated by the material, from 8 to 13 feet
- Lifespan
- 20 years15 to 20 years (Dolphin in the wild)
- Teeth
- 120 teeth100 to 120, all identical, used only for grasping and never for chewing
- Brain hemispheres awake during sleep
- 1 hemisphere at a timethe other hemisphere remains active to control voluntary breathing
- Shark scars
- 74 percentadults studied in Shark Bay, Australia with signs of shark attacks
Ten fun facts
does not have vocal cords: it produces sounds using its larynx and six air-filled sacs near the blowhole.
the echo of its clicks enters through its lower jaw, which carries it directly to the inner ear.
has no sense of smell: olfactory nerves and the olfactory lobe of the brain are completely absent.
can taste salty, sweet, bitter, and sour flavors, because its tongue possesses real taste buds like land mammals.
in Shark Bay, Australia, 74 percent of adult dolphins studied carried scars left behind by shark attacks.
some populations hunt right on the beach: they push fish onto the sand and almost strand themselves to catch them.
dolphins in Scotland kill harbor porpoises not to eat them, but to eliminate competitors hunting the same fish.
the pectoral fins contain bones corresponding to the limbs of the land mammals from which cetaceans descended.
a calf is born tail first rather than head first, and remains in close contact with its mother for six years.
a dolphin was found in Japan with a second pair of pectoral fins near its tail, as large as human hands.
The quiz answers
Five questions about this animal. Pick an answer and find out if it is the right one.
Question 1 of 5
How does the dolphin perceive the echo of its clicks?
Question 2 of 5
What is the signature whistle of a dolphin?
Question 3 of 5
Why does the dolphin sleep with only one brain hemisphere at a time?
Question 4 of 5
What are the dolphin's teeth used for?
Question 5 of 5
How do dolphins learn to hunt on the beach?
Try it yourself
Close your eyes and clap your hands in an empty room, then in a furnished room. The echo changes, just like echolocation works for underwater animals.
Create your own unique whistle and use it to let your friends recognize you from a distance. That is what every dolphin does with its signature whistle.
Measure two feet with a tape measure. That is the width of a dolphin's tail fluke, the powerful paddle that propels the animal forward through the water.
Data from Wikidata (Q174199) and Wikipedia (Common bottlenose dolphin).