Dolphins are one of the best known animals in the world. They are aquatic mammals with an adorable appearance and, although it is believed that they only live in seas and oceans, the truth is that five species are river species. They live in herds of up to twelve individuals and are very social. If they are characterized by something, it is by their great intelligence. Do you want to know some of the curiosities of dolphins ? We tell you.
Types of dolphins
There are more than 40 different species of dolphins , and although it is impossible to determine the exact number of specimens that live in the wild, experts estimate that there are about nine million.
Feeding
During their first months of life, in the same way as humans, dolphins feed solely and exclusively on mother’s milk. As they grow, they begin to hunt for themselves. They are carnivorous animals and their main sources of food are octopuses, mollusks and fish. There is something very curious about these animals, and that is that they do not chew, but directly engulf their prey. They do this to prevent spines or fins from getting stuck.
Voluntary breathing
One of the great curiosities of dolphins is that their breathing is voluntary , unlike other mammals, for which breathing is a reflex action. Therefore, they only breathe when their brain is conscious. This explains why your brain sleeps “in shifts,” alternating between the left and right hemispheres.
Communication
Dolphin communication has been the subject of study for years. The ear is one of your most developed senses, and the sound that we hear is actually made up of 700 different sounds .
Also, each dolphin has a unique name . When a calf is born, the mother vocalizes the exact same sound several times in a row, which suggests that she is saying its name.
Reproduction
The gestation period lasts about a year. When the females go to give birth, another female assists them by acting as a midwife, and the rest of the group forms a circle around it to scare off predators. Unlike the rest of mammals, the birth of these animals begins with the tail.
Life expectancy
And finally, it should be noted that dolphins can live between 40 and 70 years in their natural habitat. They are very long-lived animals.
