Dolphins
What Do Dolphins Look Like?
A dolphin is a marine animal that is part of the whale family.
Dolphins have smooth, rubbery skin and are usually a mixture of black, white
and grey in colour. They have two fins on their sides,
a triangular fin on their back and a tail.
A dolphin’s tail is horizontal unlike
fish. Like other whales, they have an
insulating layer of fat under the skin
called blubber to protect them in the
harsh cold of the freezing seas.
Dolphins are mammals, not fish, so they are warm-blooded
and are able to maintain their body temperature. Like other
whales, they have lungs and breathe through a single nostril
called the blowhole which is located on the top of their head.
Where Do Dolphins Live?
Dolphins live in the world’s seas, oceans
and rivers. They like to be with other
dolphins, living together in groups called
pods. In the wild, bottlenose dolphin pods
are formed based on age, sex and family
relationships. This could be mothers and
their newborns or most recent offspring,
a mix of male and female young dolphins
and adult males either alone or in pairs.
Dusky dolphins, commonly found off the
coast of New Zealand, have been known to create superpods of over a thousand
dolphins, due to being so well fed.
Some dolphin pods like to live in coastal areas while others choose to live in
shallow waters away from the coast or further out to sea.
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Dolphins
Hunting Behaviour
Bottlenose dolphins are unique hunters - they hunt
their prey by swimming around fish in large circles
while beating their tails down hard to stir up the
shallow silt (sea floor), making the water murky.
The lead dolphin continues to do this, making the
circle smaller and smaller, eventually trapping
the fish like in a net. As the fish leap out of the
circle to escape, the other dolphins catch them in
their mouths.
the surface and can flip over onto their back, belly or side. This is known as
breaching. They breach for many reasons, including to let other dolphins know
there is food nearby.
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Dolphins Questions
1. What family does the dolphin belong to? Tick one.
seal
otter
whale
shark
2. Find and copy one word that means keeping warm.
3. Draw four lines to complete each sentence.
Dolphins are mammals, not are formed based on age, sex and family
fish, so they relationships.
have been known to create superpods of over a
Like other whales, they
thousand dolphins, due to being so well fed.
have lungs and breathe through a single
In the wild, bottlenose
nostril called the blowhole which is located on
dolphin pods
the top of their head.
Dusky dolphins, commonly found are warm-blooded and are able to maintain
off the coast of New Zealand, their body temperature.
4. Number the events from 1-5 to show the order in which they occur in the
Hunting Behaviour
They beat their tail down hard to stir up the shallow silt.
1
The water changes to become murky.
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Dolphins Questions
5. What is the name of the action that dolphins perform as they jump out
breach
splash
spin
beach
6. Fill in the missing words.
from the
surface and can flip over onto their back, or side.
7. Summarise what you have learnt about dolphins using 25 words or fewer.
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