1. There are lot of evidences from which, it has been found
that dolphins evolved from a kind of four-legged terrestrial animal that
existed on earth 50 million years ago and then gradually started living in
water. Due to being in the water for a long time, its feet gradually disappeared.
2. The name dolphin comes from the Greek words
"delphis" and "delphus," which mean "fish with a
womb".
A group of dolphins is called a school. The group of
female dolphins is called cows, the group of male dolphins is called bulls
while the group of dolphins is called calves.
3. Dolphins can talk to humans to a great extent. They
can understand every gesture made by humans. Many such incidents have been
seen in which dolphins have saved human life. Korean scientists have shown
in their report that a group of dolphins were trying to save the life of a
dying dolphin.
4. The brain of dolphins is more
folded than the brain of humans and their brain structure is similar as
millions of years ago. Scientists measure intelligence by the folds of the
brain.
5. Dolphin's brain is considered
to be the second most powerful after the human brain. Like humans, dolphins have
large brains, they solve problems with their brains, act intelligently and try
to make their way of life easier.
6. Is a dolphin a fish? This question may sound strange to you, but it is important to know
whether a dolphin is really a fish or not. A dolphin can swim easily in
water like a normal fish but in reality it is not a fish. Dolphins fall
into the mammalian fauna which is very different from fish. Mammals are
creatures that can feed milk to their young, and dolphins do so. Due to
this quality, along with dolphins, whales and seals also do not come under the
species of fish. Some of the reasons dolphins are mammals are:
- they are warm-blooded creatures
- They breathe with the help of lungs not from gills
- They give birth directly to the child without laying eggs.
- They can feed milk their baby
- They have hair on their body, although these hairs are not so easily visible but they are present.
7. Warm-blooded creatures- This means that the body of the organism regulates the internal
temperature on its own; due to this feature, their body remains warm even when
it is very cold. Dolphins survive easily even in cold water like the Pacific
Ocean due to this quality and they are not affected by any kind of infection.
In such a situation, they stay away from all those disorders which easily affect
cold-blooded creatures. If we talk about humans, then humans are cold-blooded
creatures who cannot regulate their body temperature.
8. Breathing from lungs– Breathing from lungs is a major characteristic of marine
mammals. Dolphins also come among the same creatures that do not breathe
through gills, so they have to come to the surface of the water after some interval
to breathe in the lungs. There is a hole in their body for breathing, which
they keep closed inside the water and when they come to the surface, they open this
hole and breathe through it.
9. Since dolphins cannot breathe
underwater, they have to come to the surface of the water to get air, which
also gives them little time to sleep. Therefore, instead of sleeping
several hours in a row at a time, dolphins tend to "nap" for short
periods of time. While sleeping, half of their brain remains awake, which
keeps them aware of breathing, otherwise they will drown and die. Every
15 to 20 minutes they go to the surface of the water to breathe.
10. They sleep for about 8 hours
in a day with half-brain active and even during sleep they keep going on the
surface of the water for a short time to breathe.
11. Dolphins breathe with the help
of a hole made in their body. These holes remain closed when they are
underwater and as soon as they come to the surface, their lungs expel the air
rapidly from this hole and immediately take oxygen inside the body through the
same hole. You will be surprised to know that the dolphins take out the
air from this hole, its speed is about kilometers per hour.
12. Just as humans conceive for 9
months, similarly dolphins have a gestation period of 9 months to 16 months.
13. Dolphins do not lay eggs and
give birth directly to the baby. Female adult dolphins can give birth every 2 to 4 years, although there are some species that keep a gap of 5 to 7
years between giving birth twice. Babies stay with the mother for about 5
years after birth, some species prefer to stay with the mother for the rest of
their life.
14. Just as humans have nurses to
take care of patients, dolphins also have nurses who help those female dolphins
to give birth to babies if they are finding it difficult to give birth. These
nurses help to pull the baby out of that dolphin's body while at the same time, some other nurse dolphins roam around them for their safety.
15. Dolphins give birth to a
single child in most cases, but in some cases, twins can also be
born. Whenever this happens, there is a strong possibility that one of the
children will die due to lack of care, because their mother is unable to take
care of both the baby dolphin at the same time.
16. Apart from nourishing their pups,
dolphins take good care of them. You will be surprised to know that they
also feed their babies with milk. If you are wondering how they would
be able to feed their baby even if they are in water. Then you must know that
they have adopted this special quality of theirs along with being in the water so
that they can nurture the babies well.
17. Their children learn every knowledge
and habit from their mother only. There are three important habits that
babies learn from the mother within a few days of birth: hunting for food,
socializing in the herd, and protecting themselves from other dolphins.
18. When a dolphin is born, its
tail comes out first because if their head comes out first then they will be in
danger of drowning. As soon as the baby is born, the dolphin breaks the
umbilical cord by moving away from it and then it has to take the baby to the
water surface immediately so that it helps the baby to breathe by carrying it
to the surface of the water.
19. The female dolphin takes care
of her baby alone, with no partner helping her. When a female dolphin is
pregnant or nursing her young, her male partner searches for another female
partner.
It has also been observed in
dolphins that some male dolphins are homosexual and they are also attracted to
male dolphins. On the basis of research conducted in Australia, it was
told that some male dolphins were emotionally attracted towards them by seeing
the way of hunting and social skills of male dolphins.
20. Another special feature of
dolphins that sets them apart from fish is their body hair. Newborn
dolphin babies have hair on their body, which gradually sheds in a few
days. It is believed that when they lived on land, they always had hair on
their body and this part has remained the remnant of their continuous
development till now.
21. Dolphins eat fish, shrimp, and
other small sea creatures as their food. But they do not eat these
creatures by chewing but break them into small pieces before
swallowing. Their teeth are only for catching the organism and cutting it
into small pieces. While swallowing the fish, they swallow the head part
of the fish first so that its thorns do not get stuck in their throat.
22. A 120 kg adult dolphin
consumes about 15 kg of food in a whole day. It is estimated that dolphins
eat 4 to 9% of their total body weight every day. Like cows, their stomach
also has many chambers, one of which is useful for digestion, while the other
chambers store food before and after digestion.
23. The newborn baby survives
entirely on its mother's milk, the babies drink milk from the mother's nipple which
seems a very thick paste. They depend only on milk until they learn to eat
by hunting themselves.
24. Despite being in the water,
dolphins do not drink water. Whatever food they eat, there is already a
lot of water in it and that is how their work goes on. Like humans, sweat
does not come out of their body, due to which the water inside them lasts
longer.
25. All the species of dolphins
have their teeth in the shape of a cone. A Risso Dolphin has 14 and the Spinner Dolphin has 240 teeth.
Dolphins of the Orca species
are the largest dolphins, also known as killer whales. Male dolphins of
this species are 32 feet long and weigh 10000 kg. At the time of birth,
their height is 6 to 8 feet.
26. New Zealand dolphins and
Franciscan dolphins are the smallest dolphins. These species come in
almost endangered species, whose number has been limited to only 50. Source
27. Dolphins use a well-developed system
of communication and echolocation to communicate with each other. When
they are angry or happy they make a rapid pulse sound.
28. According to one report, their
average life span is 50 years. The life span of small dolphins is 20 years
while that of larger dolphins such as killer whales is 80 years. Well you
know that killer whales are dolphins but they are called killer whales because
their size is so big that they look like whales and they also hunt big
creatures and that too very efficiently.
29. You will be surprised to know
that like humans, dolphins also keep their names and know each other by
name. Moreover, each of them also has a unique voice, so that they can
easily recognize each other and they can remember their voice for many years.
30. Dolphin is the only animal
among animals whose memory is considered to be the best and longest.
31. Dolphins are not considered
very good swimmers, they only swim at an average speed of 3 kilometers per
hour. Although sometimes they can swim at a speed of 50 kilometers per
hour but for a very short time.
32. Like bats, dolphins also use
echolocation or sonar for direction. In this method, they release a high
pitch beam from their body, which hits the surrounding objects and reaches them
back. With the help of this returned beam, dolphins estimate the size and
direction of their surroundings and objects. With the help of this
echolocation, they locate creature for their food.
33. Dolphin's sonar or echolocation
is considered to be the rarest sonar in nature. It is far more accurate
than bat sonar or any man-made sonar. With help of its echolocation, a
dolphin can understand easily whether an iron rod is 2.1 inches thick or 2.2
inches thick from very far distance.
34. Despite having such accurate
sonar, dolphins are not able to detect the thread of the fishing net, due to
which crores of dolphins die every year after getting trapped in the
net. After being trapped in the net, the dolphins are unable to come out
of it and return to the surface of the water to breathe, due to which they die
by drowning in the water inside the net.
35. Dolphins can recognize humans
even under water, under water they detect human skeletons through their
sonar. They save the shipwrecked humans from other creatures in the middle
of the sea and also help them to bring them to the surface of the
water. Being a mammal, they know the pain of drowning very well, that is
why they are ready to help every drowning animal. Source
36. Another surprising thing about
dolphins is that their skin regenerates on its own every 2 hours, due to which
their skin is very shiny and soft.
37. The US Navy had trained some
dolphins to espionage and protect nuclear weapons. These dolphins were
trained to monitor enemy ships, to detect underwater mines and to guard
weapons.
38. In 1971, the US Navy deployed
some trained dolphins around the US base in Vietnam to protect the
base. These dolphins were also trained to inject poison into the human
body, so that if any enemy around the base tried to come through the water,
they could be easily killed.
39. Some similar trained dolphins
disappeared mysteriously in 2005. These dolphins were trained by the US
Navy to kill terrorists. These dolphins had very small poisonous guns,
with the help of which they could easily kill a person in just one shot. Source
40. Once a dolphin was trained to
fight sharks. This dolphin named Semo was taught to hit the shark with the
head when given the command. On command, the semo could easily attack the
lemon shark, sandbar shark and nurse shark but refused to attack the bull
shark.
41. Dolphins live in groups called
pods, a dozen to a hundreds of dolphins live in a pod. The whole pod moves
together, hunts together, and everyone in the pod takes care of each other.
42. Dolphins in the pod also make
good friends and play together. Some dolphins also make friends in other
pods, but this has been found in very few cases.
43. Dolphin's eyes are very sharp
in water and also outside water. Dolphins can hear frequencies in the
upper limit 10 times higher than any other human. Their sense of touch is
very well developed but they do not have the power to smell.
44. An average-sized dolphin can
jump up to 30 feet above the surface of the water.
45. Why do dolphins jump out of
water?
There are many reasons to jump
out of the water: to locate their pod, to breathe in a better way, because by doing
so in the air they save more energy in air than in the water. The other reasons
for doing so is to adjust better communication during the hunt and also to get
rid of the parasites on their bodies.
46. Male dolphins perform many
acts to win the heart of female dolphins, such as performing many tricks under
water or singing songs for the female. If several males are present for
the same female, the males wrestle among themselves and the one who wins in the
end is entitled to get the female. Male and female intercourse lasts only
10 seconds but they do this several times throughout the day.
47. Dolphins can look in two
directions by rotating both their eyes at the same time. Their eyes are
fixed on the side of their head, due to which they can see 300 degree view.
48. Dolphins have amazing power to
heal wounds. Whether it's from a shark bite or a fight with other
dolphins, they recover very quickly, and even they regrow the parts of their
bodies that have been severely damaged. Source
49. The hearing and echolocation
of dolphins are so good that even a blind dolphin can survive comfortably.
50. This question must be coming
in your mind that dolphins have lungs and they breathe like humans, so why
can't they live on land? So the answer is that outside the water they will
dehydrate and die due to overheating.
51. Many scientists believe that
dolphins never sleep deeply, that's why they never even dream.
52. Dolphins can recognize
themselves in the mirror and they love to praise themselves. Moreover,
they can even talk and understand each other on the phone as well.
53. In ancient Greece, killing
dolphins was considered anti-religious and the punishment for this was the death. The
Greeks used to call dolphins the sacred fish.
54. Every year a new layer forms
on the teeth of the dolphins, just like the trunk of the tree is covered by a new
single layer. By counting these layers of dolphin's teeth, their age can
be easily known.
55. Sometimes it becomes costly to
the shark to mess with the dolphin. The dolphin also kills the shark by beating
it with its head. A swarm of dolphins spins circularly around the shark
and kills it by beating it with its head.
56. A species of dolphin is found
in the Ganges and Indus rivers of India, which is blind since birth. These
dolphins use their sensitive sonar system to see and avoid
predators. These dolphins swim in only one direction of their body. Source
57. You will be surprised to know
that dolphins can also commit suicide, in the process of suicide, they stop
breathing on their own and gradually they start suffocating. However, it
is impossible for any other creature to do so. Most of the suicide cases
have been seen in those dolphins which are kept in captivity. The dolphin,
who was made to act in the 1964 film “Flipper”, also committed suicide.
58. It has been seen many times
that male dolphins separate female dolphins from their families, torture and
refuse to feed them until they agree to mate with him. Source
59. In Laguna, Brazil, it has been
observed that bottlenose dolphins push flocks of fish towards fishermen along
the seashore and signal them with their tails to cast their nets. In
return, these dolphins eat the fish that escape from that net. These
dolphins were never trained for such cooperation. Such type of cooperation
between dolphins and fishermen has been observed since 1847. Source
60. In 2014, a dolphin was found
in western Turkey that had two heads.
61. In Japan, Peru, the Solomon
Islands and the Faroe Islands, humans kill and eat dolphins. It is seen in
very few places in the world that humans kill dolphins and eat them.
62. The largest predators of dolphins
are sharks. From these, white sharks, tiger sharks, bull sharks are the most dangerous
predators that attack dolphins from behind or from below. Sharks usually
do not eat dolphins, but they do attack dolphins to defend their dominant territory.
63. In today's time, due to more
hunting, more fishing, pollution and rising sea temperature, the dolphin
population is facing a terrible threat. Millions of dolphins die every
year by getting caught in the net even during fishing. Due to over-fishing,
their food source is continuously decreasing, due to which their population has
also been affected badly.
64. To protect the dolphin
species, India, Hungary, Costa Rica and Chile have declared dolphins as
'non-human persons', which means that dolphins cannot be captured and
imprisoned for any entertainment purpose.
65. In 2006, Bao Xishun, the
world's tallest man, saved the lives of two dolphins by putting his hand in
their stomachs and taking out plastic. At that time, Xishun's hand was the
longest (1.06 m) and the dolphin's trainers were unable to remove the plastic
in the stomach by any other way. Source
66. There is also an organization
called Anti-Dolphin Organization which believes that dolphins are a threat to
the existence of humans, so all the dolphins present in the sea should be
killed. Source
67. In New Zealand, there was a
dolphin named Pelorus Jack who used to guide ships in crossing a dangerous
channel in New Zealand. In 1904, someone from a ship named SS Penguin
tried to kill him with a rifle. Fortunately, Dolphin survived and
continued to direct the ships crossing the channel, instead of the SS Penguin
ship. Source
68. Scientists were monitoring whale stress levels by analyzing their poop
and found that their stress plummeted immediately following the 9/11 attacks.
It turns out this was due to all air traffic being halted, which calmed the
oceans of low-frequency noise which whales use to communicate – Source
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