Dolphins are really smart aquatic mammals and so it’s quite interesting to learn some rare facts about dolphins for kids. What makes them so interesting and set them apart from other marine animals is their unique behavior. These mammals often play with humans and through their nimbleness; they often become the center of attention for many wildlife lovers. You may have experienced dolphins’ magnificent dives in and out of water, suddenly going up while watching the backdrops and going after the vessels. One of the rare facts about dolphins for kids is that by following vessels in water, these mammals tend to store energy as they go in swimming at the side of ships. This practice is therefore quite useful for dolphins in order to gain energy and it is called “Bow-riding”.
As far as their social behavior is concerned well, dolphins are really cheerful and fancy living in good company. That’s you will often find them in a groups of hundreds at times. Through the help of echolocation, dolphins manage to feed on their prey.
Top 15 Most Fascinating Facts About Dolphins For Kids
- One of the amazing facts about dolphins for kids is that they nod off for just about 8 hours in a day.
- Due to the danger of suffocation, dolphins never go to sleep completely. They have to allow 50% of their brain to wake up through their entire sleep.
- They do not have a very good sense of sniffing.
- Every dolphin has two abdomens.
- Few dolphins are capable to plunge deep under the sea water for almost 304 meters.
- A dorsal fin (which is at the rear of the body) is unique for all dolphins.
- There are quite a few species of dolphins that are able to dip for about 40 km/h which is 3 times more than any human can achieve while swimming at his peak.
- While some species can hold breath for merely 20 seconds, there are quite a few dolphins that are really efficient in holding their breath for about half an hour.
- They are not always friendly because in bad times they may turn into a rather ferocious animal.
- The vision of dolphins under the water is excellent because of a delicate retina that is responsible for collecting light enabling it to see as clearly in water as in the air.
- A fully grown dolphin can gobble almost 13.6 kg of fish in a 24-hour window.
- A dolphin has 100 little but sharp teeth in its mouth.
- Even though dolphins possess a lot of teeth but when it comes to eating fish, it guzzles the meat as a whole. It takes no hassle and does not waste any time in crushing the prey in its teeth. Dolphins use their teeth only for hunting purpose.
- As you may have experienced in movies or on your own dolphins always leaps out of water. But do you know that their maximum leap out of water ranges to almost 20 feet high in the air?
- Another one of the amazing facts about dolphins for kids is that the biggest dolphin (known as ‘Boto’) ranges up to 10 feet in length and lives in Amazon River.
A Quick Guide To Facts About Dolphins For Kids
Scientific Name: Felis Catus
Family: Delphinidae
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
Weight: 90 pounds-11 tons
Length: 4 – 30 feet
Number of Species: 36
Average Life span: 17 – 25 years
Status: Endangered
Predators: White sharks, killer whales and tiger sharks
Diet: Fish, sea lions, crustaceans, turtles, penguins, squid seals, crabs, walruses, octopus, sardines, shrimps, whales, sharks and birds
Maximum Speed: 40 mph
Tidbits On Facts About Dolphins For Kids
March 29, 2012 | (Shark Bay, Australia) The behavior of dolphins is somewhat weird as few males often make relationships with their counterparts while some dolphins likes to reside in open social structure, according to the anthropologists of University of Zurich. Male dolphins behave quite strangely in groups and in 1990s almost 2-3 males made a coalition in order to weed out the female dolphin from the group.
July 31, 2012 | Apparently, it sounds as if all dolphins are alike and so it’s a labor-intensive task to single out a specific dolphin through manual photography. So while taking pictures of dolphins, digital age comes into play now with the introduction of new software named as “DARWIN”. It’s a free software and is also readily accessible for you to download it.
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