dolphin

Dolphins are marine mammals closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from 1.2 m (4 ft) and 40 kg (90 lb) (Maui's dolphin), up to 9.5 m (30 ft) and 10 tonnes (9.8 long tons; 11 short tons) (the orca or killer whale). They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, eating mostly fish and squid. The family Delphinidae is the largest in the Cetacean order, and evolved relatively recently, about ten million years ago, during the Miocene. Dolphins are among the most intelligent animals, and their often friendly appearance, an artifact of the "smile" of their mouthline, and seemingly playful attitude have made them very popular in human culture.

For more information about dolphin check the Wikipedia article here

ZME Science posts about dolphin

Horny, military trained killer dolphins on the loose in the Black Sea

Wed, Mar 13, 2013

1 Comment

This might be the weirdest news piece you’ll read all day. Apparently, the Ukrainian navy is only one of two navies in the world, the other being the US navy, which has navy killer dolphins at their disposal. These warrior sea-mammals are trained to place and hunt down mines and attack enemy frogmen divers with knives [...]

More humane than humans – dolphins form life raft to try and save the life of a friend [with video]

Tue, Jan 29, 2013

0 Comments

Is someone chopping onions? Common dolphins have been seen to aid a dying companion, trying as hard as they could to support him and help him breathe. This is the first time that a group of dolphins has been observed trying to aid a dying companion; five individual dolphins formed a raft with their bodies [...]

Navy to replace mine-seeking dolphins with robots

Mon, Dec 3, 2012

4 Comments

Did you know that the Navy trained dolphins to find mines which often blow up? Apparently, it was a cost effective method; now, the Navy are preparing to replace the dolphins with robots, not because they were doing a bad job or because they want to do a more humane job, but because, guess what? [...]

Dolphins can stay awake for 15 days straight

Thu, Oct 18, 2012

0 Comments

After staying awake for many hours or days at time, humans and other mammals alike are forced to sleep, not because the body asks it, but because the brain inevitably calls for a shut down of the conscious psyche, in order to replenish and function properly when awake. Dolphins, however, have been found to have [...]

Dolphins hang out in cliques

Wed, Aug 1, 2012

0 Comments

It seems we keep finding out more and more interesting facts about dolphins, the fantastic creatures highlighting a not-so-pleasant but rather human behavior: much like sassy highschool girls, dolphins hang out in cliques. Discriminating dolphins Dolphins have figured out how to use sea sponges as hunting tools – which is an absolutely remarkable feat in [...]

3000 dolphins die, wash up on the coast of Peru as a result of oil companies activitiy

Mon, Apr 16, 2012

2 Comments

In the past 3 months, over 3000 dead dolphins have been washed ashore on the coasts of Peru, and this worrying trend continues to grow. So far, the average is about 30 per day, but a significant growth has been reported in the past few days. While dead dolphins washing up are not entirely uncommon, [...]

Dolphin’s sixth sense helps them detect electric fields

Thu, Jul 28, 2011

4 Comments

Dolphins are absolutely amazing creatures, smarter beyond whatever you might think, and with a heart of gold. But now, researchers have shown that aside from these qualities, the common Guiana dolphins have yet another remarkable ability: the power to sense electric fields. The dolphin carries its baby just as any other placental mammal does, and [...]

Subscribe for FREE!

Popular This Week

Drop us a line!

Tip us on news, scientific reports and studies, scientific advances, science art, interesting phenomena or any kind of science related material. Just write to andrei@zmescience.com.