Here are some fun facts about dolphins that you may find interesting.
1. There are about 43 different species of dolphins that have been discovered. Of these species, 38 of them are marine dolphins (meaning they inhabit large bodies of water) and 5 are river dolphins.
2. The average life span of a dolphin is usually between 15-20 years. However, some dolphins have lived near 40-50 years.
3. Dolphins generally do not attack humans. Rather, some dolphins have been known to protect humans from shark attacks and swimming them to shore. Dolphins will only attack humans if they feel threatened or provoked by them. None of these attacks have ever been fatal.
4. When dolphins travel, they usually travel in what are called “schools” or “pods”. These pods usually consist of between 10-12 dolphins.
5. Dolphins have been known to kill sharks. When a dolphin is positioned bellow a shark, it will ram the shark’s stomach with its snout. One blow from the dolphin’s snout alone can cause the shark to sustain a lot of damage. Sometimes, the dolphins will repeatedly ram the shark, and this has been known to kill larger-sized sharks, such as hammerheads. In most cases, the shark may just be left unconscious. Even if the shark does not die from the dolphin’s snout, it will usually still have some sort of internal damage.
6. Also, being that dolphins usually travel in groups, if one of the group is threatened by a shark, the rest of the dolphins will help defend it from the shark by circling it. This will cause the shark to become confused, making it unable to chase the other dolphins.
7. Killer Whales are also a species of dolphins. They are only called “Killer Whales” due to their large size and diet.
8. The Maui’s Dolphin is the smallest dolphin species known to man, measuring in at about 4-feet length in average. This particular dolphin also happens to be a subspecies of Hector’s Dolphin. Maui’s Dolphin also happens to be one of the rarest species of Dolphins in existence.
9. Experts calculate that each year, about 300,000 dolphins and whales are caught in fisherman’s fishnets.
10. Whaling happens to be a big industry in Japan. It is estimated that over 20,000 dolphins and whales are killed each year due to whaling.