8 Amazing Dolphin Facts You Didn’t Know You Needed to Hear

Did you know that there are almost 40 different species of dolphins around the world? Many people are familiar with the bottlenose dolphin because of its place in popular culture. However, many other dolphin species are equally incredible once you know a little bit more about them.

Some people think that the most interesting things about dolphins are the facts that are the most famous, the ones that everybody knows. However, some of the lesser-known facts about dolphins are absolutely amazing! Read on to learn all about the top dolphin facts you didn’t know you needed to hear!

1. Dolphins Appreciate the Value of Family

Many people take their way of living for granted. They are often surprised to find out how many animals do not live in families like humans do. In fact, there are relatively few animal species that form families in any sense that humans would recognize.

However, dolphins are one of the exceptions to this rule of the animal kingdom. Dolphins live together in families for the duration of their lives.

On top of that, families of dolphins live with other families in larger groups called pods. These pods are quite similar to the tribes that humans lived in for most of the history of our species.

Dolphin pods even display incredible and complex behavior. Sometimes, pods join together to form new groups. Sometimes, pods split up for many years, only to circle back and meet up together again.

Another interesting thing about dolphin pods is that they are matriarchal. In other words, they are organized around a female leader of some kind. In most cases, this female leader is a grandmother.

2. The Biggest Dolphin Is the Killer Whale

Most people do not realize that the killer whale is not a whale at all. In fact, killer whales are a species of dolphin. That makes a lot more sense when you realize how smart killer whales are and remember that dolphins are supposed to be the smartest animal in the ocean.

Killer whales are the largest species of dolphin. They are also called orcas. They are one of the major attractions at theme parks like Seaworld.

Killer whales mostly get their name from the fact that they are so large. In fact, they are relatively harmless to humans. In fact, nobody even knows of any case in which a killer whale harmed a human in the wild.

Killer whales have revealed their intelligence in fascinating ways. They have been observed to be able to recognize individual humans on sight.

3. Dolphins Can Enjoy Long Lifespans

Did you know that most animals live longer in captivity than in the wild? However, the exact opposite is true for dolphins. In captivity, dolphins will generally only live between 10 and 12 years.

On top of that, in captivity, many dolphins die within a single year.

However, in the wild, dolphins live longer than most animals. Most dolphins will live as many as 50 years in the wild.

Along with being the largest dolphins, killer whales also live the longest. The oldest known killer whale is known as “Granny.” She lived to be 90 years old.

4. Dolphins May Be the Smartest Animal on Earth

Many scientists believe that chimpanzees are the smartest animal on the earth. They often place dolphins closer to second or third place. Of course, when they are talking about contenders for the smartest animal on the planet, it is really killer whales that they are talking about.

It is not that easy to compare levels of intelligence between species. Some animals might be very good at some things while being bad at others. It is always partially an art and partially a science trying to decide which abilities demonstrate more intelligence than others.

This problem is especially difficult for aquatic animals. Aquatic animals may display intelligence in ways that seem very foreign to us.

The end result is that most scientists think that killer whales are the second or third smartest animal on the planet. But there is still a real possibility that there is some sense in which they are actually smarter than chimpanzees!

5. Dolphins Combine Speed With Their Intelligence

Along with intelligence and lifespan, dolphins enjoy incredible speed. Most dolphins can swim at about 20 mph.

Killer whales, along with being the smartest and longest-living dolphins, are also the fastest. They can sometimes swim as fast as 35 mph!

6. Dolphin Communication Includes Unique Names

The intelligence of dolphins allows them some of the best communication skills in the animal kingdom. Among other things, they are so smart that they use specific sounds to refer to members of their pods.

In other words, dolphins have their own names. Members of the pod learn to call for each dolphin by their unique whistle.

Incredibly, mother dolphins will start to whistle the name of their future children before they are even born!

7. Dolphins Have the Power of Sonar

When most people think of animals with sonar, they think of bats. However, dolphins are also blessed with the power of sonar.

Dolphins create sounds and listen for those sounds to bounce off of objects and return to them. They use those reflected sounds to tell them about the position of nearby objects.

8. There Are Fewer Than 2 Million Dolphins

Many people wonder how many dolphins there are. In total, there are fewer than 2 million.

On top of that, about 1.2 million of all the dolphins in the world belong to just three species. They are the Bottlenose Dolphin, the Fraser’s Dolphin, and the Atlantic White-Sided Dolphin.

The more that you know about dolphin species and how dolphin communication works, the more you might be interested in expressing your love for these amazing animals. Many people wear a dolphin shirt to show their love for dolphins.

Understand the Most Amazing Dolphin Facts

We hope learning about these amazing dolphin facts has been interesting for you. Many people love dolphins because they are cute and intelligent. Most people do not realize how much more there is to know about these amazing animals!

Learning more about the fascinating animal species around the world can open your eyes to just how big the world we live in is. To learn more about the latest information in science, technology, and more, take a look through our other articles!