Dolphins/Porpoises

1.   Bottlenose dolphins may look like fish but they are mammals. They breathe air, just like you do.

2.   The scientific family name for dolphins is Delphinidae. The largest dolphins are orcas, also called killer whales.

3.   Having little or no sense of smell, bottlenose dolphins make up for it with a sharp sense of hearing.

4.   Bottlenose dolphins have excellent vision both in and out of water.

5.   The brain of a bottlenose dolphin is larger than a human brain, however, the part concerned with intelligence is not.

6.   Their skin is smooth and feels sort of like an inner tube.

7.   Bottlenose dolphins swim in groups called pods. A pod usually has a dozen or so animals.

8.   Pods often combine to form herds. Some herds include several hundred bottlenose dolphins.

9.   While several bottlenose dolphins in a group herd the fish into smaller and smaller circles, the others take turns zipping into the school to snap up fish!

10.   It is important to remember that bottlenose dolphins can be unpredictable and aggressive—to each other and to humans. They must be respected as the wild and beautiful animals they are.