Facts about Dolphins!

Dolphins are highly intelligent marine mammals and are part of the family of toothed whales that includes orcas and pilot whales. They are found worldwide, mostly in shallow seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating fish and squid. Dolphin shade varies from one another, but they are generally gray in color with darker backs than the rest of their bodies. There are however facts about them that makes them one of the most beautiful creatures in the water.

I. Dolphins are well known for their agility and playful behavior, making them a favorite of wildlife watchers. Many species will leap out of the water, spy-hop (rise vertically out of the water to view their surroundings) and follow ships, often synchronizing their movements with one another. Scientists believe that dolphins conserve energy by swimming alongside ships, a practice known as bow-riding.

Dolphins live in social groups of five to several hundred. They use echolocation to find prey and often hunt together by surrounding a school of fish, trapping them and taking turns swimming through the school and catching fish. Dolphins will also follow seabirds, other whales and fishing boats to feed opportunistically on the fish they scare up or discard.

II. Unlike a fish, which moves its tale from side to side, a dolphin swims by moving its tale (made up of flukes) up and down. And a dolphin carries more oxygen in its blood than a fish and can swim longer than a fish. Hence, dolphins are better adapted to the sea than are any fish.

III. Dolphins don’t breathe automatically, rather it is always consciously done. An interesting consequence of the fact that they need to be conscious to control their breathing is that they can never be truly unconscious, even when they sleep.  However, being mammals, their brains do need to enter a type of unconscious state every now and again in order to continue to function properly.  How dolphins handle this is to put one half of their brain to sleep, while the other half is still conscious and functioning.  They then alternate which side is sleeping periodically.  They stay in this state for approximately eight hours a day.  Doing this allows them to be conscious enough to control their breathing and periodically swim to the surface and get air, while still giving their brain the rest it needs.

IV. “Killer Whales”, or Orcas, are actually dolphins.  In fact, they are the largest member of the dolphin family, Delphinidae. Now strictly speaking, whales are marine animals of the order of Cetacea and occasionally Cetacea is used to refer to not just whales, but also porpoises and dolphins.  However, it generally excludes these latter marine animals, which belong to the sub-order Odontoceti.  So, depending on who you talk to, dolphins, including the Orca, may be considered whales and dolphins or may be considered a separate marine animal from other whales.  But in either case, Orcas are one of the 35 species in the oceanic dolphin family, with its closest relative being the Irrawaddy dolphin.

All in all, I’d say that dolphins are one of the genuine creatures of waters. If you surf the web, there will be dozens of occasions where you’ll read news about them having helped humans in one way or another. Beautiful gentle ones they are indeed.