
The marine mammals also stick together during shark attacks and other threats. It is also presumed that dolphins communicate via body language.Ĭommon Bottlenose Dolphin - Photo: alexandro900/Shutterstock Enemies and Threats When a Dolphin Feels Threatened Scientists think that dolphins express their contentment with slow clicking noises and high whistling sounds while sharp and deep screeching is a signal of anger. Yet, until today nobody has been able to lift the secret behind their songs.

They chirp, click, whistle, scream, shout, groan, grunt, squeak and even make noises like creaking doors. We know that dolphins are able to utter about 100 different sounds. There is only one correct answer to this question: possibly. Fortunately the dolphins keep an eye on each other and poke each other to wake up in those cases. This is a rather complicated process und allows dolphins to shut one eye and execute simple swimming movements simultaneously. Yet it sometimes happens that a dolphin “forgets” to resurface and breathe. The answer is: Just like a computer they activate an energy saving mode by reducing the activities of one of their cerebral hemispheres. Therefore, dolphins have to swim while they are sleeping, because they have to come up to the surface to breathe. They have to permanently stay close to the water surface to be able to breathe, as they are no fish but mammals with lungs. If a dolphin is ill, injured or just giving birth to a dolphin baby, the others protect it and transport it to the water surface so that it can breathe.Ĭommon Bottlenose Dolphin - Photo: alekss-sp/Shutterstock Anatomy and Appearance How Do Dolphins Sleep? Some dolphin species round up fish by means of clicking sounds before attacking them. Dolphins on the Huntĭolphins always hunt together. On average it is about 984 feet (300 meters) for a maximum of 20 minutes. How Deep and How Long Do Dolphins Dive?Įxperiments showed that a trained dolphin could dive 1,640 feet (500 meters) deep. They do not only hunt fish, but also seals, penguins and squids. They also pick up sound waves with their jaws and their head and transmit them to their inner ears.Ĭommon Bottlenose Dolphin - Photo: Chase Dekker/Shutterstock Behavior How Much Fish Does a Dolphin Eat Per Day?Ĭommon bottlenose dolphins eat 18-33 lb (8-15 kg) fish per day. Dolphins have extremely small earholes, but they are said to have the best auditory sense of all animals. Yes, but they do not have auricles like us. It reaches a length of 20-26 feet (6-8 meters) and can weigh up to 6 tons.
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The biggest and heaviest dolphin is the orca, which is also named killer whale. It normally reaches a length of just 4 feet (1.2 meters) and a weight of 88 lb (40 kg).

The smallest and lightest dolphin is Heaviside’s dolphin. Anatomy and Appearance The Biggest and the Smallest Dolphin Species Did you know that the orca is a dolphin, too? We have a separate profile for the orca. When talking about dolphins, most people have a common bottlenose dolphin on their minds. They can be white, pearl-colored, rose, brown, grey, blue or black. which all vary in size, weight, behaviour and in appearance and color, too. There are about 40 different dolphin species. Up to 25 mph (40 km/h) (short distance), up to 7 mph (11 km/h) (long distance) Dolphin / Common Bottlenose Dolphin Facts Size
