30 Facts About Dolphins

1.

Dolphins produce a variety of vocalizations, usually in the form of clicks and whistles.

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2.

Dolphins are sometimes hunted in places such as Japan, in an activity known as dolphin drive hunting.

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3.

Dolphins are sometimes kept in captivity and trained to perform tricks.

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4.

Dolphins are descendants of land-dwelling mammals of the artiodactyl order .

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5.

Dolphins have torpedo-shaped bodies with generally non-flexible necks, limbs modified into flippers, a tail fin, and bulbous heads.

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6.

Dolphins have conical teeth, as opposed to porpoises' spade-shaped teeth.

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7.

Dolphins have a two-chambered stomach that is similar in structure to terrestrial carnivores.

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8.

Dolphins have two pectoral flippers, containing four digits, a boneless dorsal fin for stability, and a tail fin for propulsion.

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9.

Dolphins send out high frequency clicks from an organ known as a melon.

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10.

Dolphins are not thought to have a good sense of taste, as their taste buds are atrophied or missing altogether.

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11.

Dolphins are known to teach, learn, cooperate, scheme, and grieve.

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12.

Dolphins are highly social animals, often living in pods of up to a dozen individuals, though pod sizes and structures vary greatly between species and locations.

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13.

Dolphins communicate using a variety of clicks, whistle-like sounds and other vocalizations.

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14.

Dolphins have been known to kill porpoises for reasons which are not fully understood, as porpoises generally do not share the same diet as dolphins and are therefore not competitors for food supplies.

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15.

Dolphins are capable of making a broad range of sounds using nasal airsacs located just below the blowhole.

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16.

Dolphins are able to communicate to one another by addressing another dolphin through mimicking their whistle.

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17.

Dolphins tend to travel in pods, upon which there are groups of dolphins that range from a few to many.

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18.

Dolphins show various types of playful behavior, often including objects, self-made bubble rings, other dolphins or other animals.

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19.

Dolphins have been observed harassing animals in other ways, for example by dragging birds underwater without showing any intent to eat them.

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20.

Dolphins suffer from a wide variety of diseases and parasites.

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21.

Dolphins are hunted this way in several places around the world, including the Solomon Islands, the Faroe Islands, Peru, and Japan, the most well-known practitioner of this method.

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22.

Dolphins are sometimes used as symbols, for instance in heraldry.

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23.

Dolphins seem to have been important to the Minoans, judging by artistic evidence from the ruined palace at Knossos.

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24.

Dolphins are common in Greek mythology, and many coins from ancient Greece have been found which feature a man, a boy or a deity riding on the back of a dolphin.

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25.

Dolphins drowned but was transfigured as the marine deity Palaemon, while his mother became Leucothea.

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26.

Dolphins turned the oars into serpents, so terrifying the sailors that they jumped overboard, but Dionysus took pity on them and transformed them into dolphins so that they would spend their lives providing help for those in need.

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27.

Dolphins were the messengers of Poseidon and sometimes did errands for him as well.

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28.

Dolphins are present in the coat of arms of Anguilla and the coat of arms of Romania, and the coat of arms of Barbados has a dolphin supporter.

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29.

Dolphins are still being trained by the United States Navy for other tasks as part of the U S Navy Marine Mammal Program.

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30.

Dolphins are an increasingly popular choice of animal-assisted therapy for psychological problems and developmental disabilities.

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