Meet our featured animal: the bottlenose dolphin!
National Dolphin Day takes place Friday, April 14, 2017!
Here are five fun facts about bottlenose dolphins:
- Dolphins are marine mammals, which means they must come to the surface of the water to breathe. They can hold their breath for up to 7 minutes!
- Dolphins can exhale air at 160 km/hr (100 mph) through their blowholes.
- Dolphins never fully sleep. One side of their brain must always be active so that they remember to breathe. (They are not involuntary breathers like humans. They must consciously swim to the surface to take a breath.)
- Dolphins have a nearly 360-degree field of vision, and they can move one eye independently of the other.
- Dolphins produce high-frequency clicks that humans can’t hear. They use these clicks in a sonar system called echolocation. When the clicking sound reaches an object, it bounces back to the dolphin as an echo. Dolphins can process this information to determine the shape, size, speed, distance, and location of the object.
Learn more about dolphins at our bottlenose dolphin article.
The post Featured Animal: Bottlenose Dolphin appeared first on Animal Fact Guide.
Featured Animal: Bottlenose Dolphin