Introduction Of the many creatures that live in the sea dolphins are among the best known There are lots of things about dolphins that will surprise you though Dolphins are mammals All mammals are warm-blooded or endothermic animals That means they can keep their bodies at a steady temperature Like you and me dolphins have a bony skeleton and breathe air Dolphin babies drink their mother’s milk Dolphins love to mix with other 3 Some dolphins love riding on waves as surfers do This may help them save energy but they probably also do it just for fun
5 DOLPHINS dolphins Many live in groups of several thousand Dolphins spend most of their lives in the water In the same way that submarines navigate using sonar dolphins use sound to map their surroundings and hunt with great accuracy This ability is called echolocation Dolphins at work The U S Navy uses dolphins to find explosive mines search for people lost at sea and to carry tools to underwater sites The U S Navy’s Marine Mammal Program was set up to study how dolphins can swim so fast The navy wanted to use this information to improve submarine torpedo and ship designs It soon realized that dolphins had many other useful skills Dolphins at play In the ocean dolphins often leap high out of the water They sometimes catch jellyfish and then use their tails to toss them into the air like a ball Spinner dolphins leap out of the water and spin right around like a top 2 Dolphins are very inquisitive They always want to know what is happening around them
6 Streamlined swimmers There are more than 30 different species types of dolphins and they all look different There are spotted dolphins and striped dolphins Some dolphins are black and white others are blue and a few are pink They vary greatly in size ranging from 4 feet 1 2m to more than 13 feet 4m long All dolphins have sleek streamlined bodies They also have powerful tails divided into two lobes or flukes Most dolphins have a fin on the back that helps keep them from rolling over as they swim On each side of the body behind the head is a flipper Dolphins use their flippers to steer The blowhole Most dolphins have a snout or beak Dolphins cannot breathe through their mouths like us that way only leads to the stomach Instead they breathe through a hole on the top of 1 Dolphins breathe through the blowhole on top of the head These are bottlenose dolphins
their head called the blowhole This hole allows the dolphin to take a quick breath when it comes to the surface The blowhole closes when the dolphin is underwater so it does not drown Dolphins have a thick layer of fat called blubber This keeps their body warm When they are very active dolphins can overheat To cool down more warm blood flows around the fins and flippers letting heat escape into the water To warm the animal up less blood flows through these parts DOLPHINS Fast swimmers Some dolphins reach speeds of more than 25 miles per hour 40km h A dolphin’s tail beats up and down to propel the animal forward It has no features that would disturb the smooth flow of water over the body such as ear flaps legs or hair The smooth body shape helps the animal move quickly through the water 3 Each of these dolphins has a fin on its back This is called the dorsal fin
