10 Fun Facts About Dolphins That You Never Knew

1. Bomb Detecting Dolphins: Did you know that dolphins are the Navy’s secret weapon for clearing underwater mines. We know what you may be thinking but we assure you that this is not some made up mumbo jumbo. In fact, you may find it interesting to note that the Navy trains their dolphins in the same way that it would train bomb-sniffing dogs.

2. Killer Whales Are Actually Dolphins- Here is a cool fact, killer whales are actually a member of the dolphin family, Delphinidae. Therefore, you can assume that a killer whale is actually a large dolphin.

3. Dolphins Kill Their Own Babies- This is a violent fact that is uneasy for us to say. Nevertheless, baby dolphins have been known to wash up dead on the beach alongside dead porpoises.

4. Dolphins Hardly Ever Sleep- Here is another random fact, dolphins can stay up for a very long time. We aren’t saying that they never sleep but we are saying that they can stay awake for up to five days straight. If any one of us tried that we would be in some pretty bad shape physically. However, dolphins can do it without losing any mental acuity.

5. There Is A Pink Dolphin! - This is weird, there is such a thing as a “pink” dolphin. They are known as Amazon river dolphins and can be quite hard to spot. Luckily, we found some really good pictures so you can see for yourself.

6. Age? - A portion of marine biologists agrees that the total life span of a dolphin is 20 years. However,  there have been some dolphins that have lived to be 48 years old.

7. Water Is Totally Overrated! - This is an important fact, dolphins don’t drink water. Yup, if they drank sea water they would get extremely ill (kind of like us.) Instead, they get all of their liquid through the foods that they eat.

8. Dolphins Are Actually Greek… - Here is a basic fact, the term dolphin is actually derived from the Greek Delphis meaning womb!

9. Dolphins Listen- Some dolphins can understand up to 60 words and can make up to 2,000 sentences.

10. Air- Dolphins can push air out of their blow-hole at speeds closing in at 100mph.