Crazy Interesting Facts About Dolphins

Dolphins are mammals found all over the world. Most of them live in shallow areas in warm and tropical oceans, but 5 species of dolphins actually live in rivers or freshwater, dolphins predominantly live in South American and Asian rivers

Dolphins Only Sleep with Half of Their Brain
Dolphins and whales sleep in an unusual way. Called “unihemispheric slow-wave sleep,” it basically means that they sleep with only half of their brain. When a dolphin goes to sleep, it shuts down one hemisphere of its brain and closes the opposite eye. This allows the dolphin to monitor what’s going on around them and to regulate breathing.

While they are sleeping, some dolphins are motionless at the surface of the water. Other times, they might swim slowly. Over a 24-hour period, each side of a dolphins brain gets about 4 hours of sleep.

Dolphins Are Carnivores they eat a wide variety of foods, including fish, squid, octopus, crustaceans, cephalopods, and other marine life.

Dolphins Live a Long Time
The life expectancy of dolphins vary, but the common bottlenose dolphin can live a whopping 20 to 50 years in the wild, to determine a dolphin’s age, veterinarians can count the rings inside each tooth. Each growth ring indicates one year of life.

Some Whales are Actually Dolphins.
Orcas, which are very recognizable because of their black and white coloring, aren’t actually whales. In fact, they are part of the dolphin family. Sometimes called killer whales, they are the biggest members of the dolphin family and found in every ocean in the world.

Like dolphins, they are very intelligent and able to communicate. They coordinate with other whales in their pod to hunt their prey.

If killer whales are actually dolphins, why do we call them that? The name killer whale came from ancient sailors who observed orcas hunting and preying on other whale species.

They called them “asesina ballenas” which translates to whale killer. Eventually, the names were flip-flopped and the term killer whale was born.

A Dolphin Can Swim More than 20MPH
They didn’t call Flipper “faster than lightning” for nothing! Dolphins have been clocked at speed up to 25 miles per hour when they’re in a hurry or trying to get away from something. Their normal swim speed is about 7-8 miles per hour though.

To swim this quickly, dolphins use their tail, or fluke, to produce thrust to push them through the water. The flukes act as wings to generate a lift force that pushes them forward.

Dolphins Can Hold Their Breath Much Longer Than Humans
Most dolphins can stay underwater for as many as 8 to 10 minutes. Some species can even stay underwater for up to 15 minutes.

They breathe through a blowhole that gets covered by a muscular flap when they go under the water. This keeps any water from getting into their lungs.

The composition of dolphins’ lungs is different than humans. This is what allows them to hold their breath longer. Dolphin lungs contain more alveoli, which are tiny air sacs. Most mammals only have one layer of oxygen-carrying capillaries, but dolphins have two layers.

There are in fact forty-three different species of dolphines, six of which are found in fresh water

The dolphin species come in a variety of fun colors like black, white, blueish, and sometimes even pink! Their color comes from their diet and environment.

They Are Highly Intelligent.
Scientists that study dolphins believe that their intelligence rivals that of a human, or that they may be even smarter than us. By using a two-way mirror, they performed experiments and study to see how they respond to them.

Dolphins are also able to recognize that they are looking at themselves rather than seeing another one of their species from the age of around six months old making them an incredible smart species. To prove this is what’s happening, scientists came up with an experiment.

They marked one side of a dolphin with an ‘X’ and didn’t mark another before letting them swim around. The dolphin that was marked swam straight up to the mirror and turned to look and see what had been drawn on it while the other dolphin didn’t show any interest. Other animals have taken the same test and the elephant and primates both are able to pass this test as well.

Dolphins Have More Brain Capacity Than Humans.
Their brains weigh 1600 grams while ours weigh 1300 grams.

Not only are dolphin brains large, but they also have a complex neocortex, which is the part of the brain that allows you to be self-aware and solve problems.

In addition, researchers have located gangly neurons in dolphin minds, which are the neurons that are responsible for emotions social cognition, and the ability to know what someone else is thinking.

A baby dolphin is called a pup,
A Group of Dolphins is Called a Pod

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