Fantastic Dolphins!
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​
January
11, 2016
My animal is a dolphin! They are the second smartest mammal on earth (humans are the first). I am going to tell you all about their characteristics, diet, habitat, and family life. I am going to tell you some little facts before we go on. Dolphins are very playful and curious. They can play fight and play with seaweed. Dolphins can also play with other animals such as dogs and cats. Dolphins are the only mammals born smiling! Dolphins are carnivores. I picked this animal because I’ve heard they are very intelligent and I wanted to learn why. Dolphins are intelligent, playful, and awesome! For example, when you touch a dolphin it stays still and doesn’t make a scary sound. Dolphins aren’t always in the ocean, they can be in a river, and rarely a pond. Dolphins breathe through their blowhole. A blowhole is a hole, that acts like a nose. It can be found on their head. Dolphins communicate with clicks, whistles, screams, grunts, moans, squeaks, and more! Dolphins are generally gray with darker beaks. Dolphins can live up to 40 years. A male dolphin is 96 to 150 inches long. When a dolphin is a newborn, they have hair on their mouth, but only for 2 weeks. Let’s go to diet! Dolphins can eat any kind of fish, except any poisonous fish. Dolphins consume a variety of food, such as fish, squid, crab, lobster, or shrimp! Dolphins are both prey and predators. Dolphin’s predators are mostly sharks and whales. When dolphins hunt, several dolphins surround a school of fish and then, at the right time, the dolphins eat the fish. Dolphins can also smell their prey in trapped places. Dolphins eat up to 15­30 pounds of food. Dolphins also help fishermen catch fish. When a fisherman sees a dolphin, they throw their nets to the ocean so that the dolphin could catch a fish with their mouth and throw it to the net. The dolphin gives a splash or a click for signal and when fishermen see the signal or hear it, they would get their net back and get ready for lunch. Let’s go to habitat! Dolphins live in every ocean except the Arctic Ocean. Dolphins live in saltwater, but sometimes dolphins go into fresh water in order to get some food. Dolphins are mostly found in the Pacific Ocean. Dolphins sleep with one eye open, which makes their brain half asleep, and while sleeping they stay close to shore. Dolphins might suffocate or get eaten if they ever find themselves deep asleep. Let’s go to family life! Dolphins stay together as a group or a pod. Baby dolphins stay in their mother for 11­18 months. Dolphins come out as a live birth. After the baby is born, it’s with his or her mother for six years. Dolphins swim with their mate in order to give birth, and the mom dolphin needs to move around in order to give birth. Baby dolphins care for themselves, but ​
sometimes babies need help to catch food or learn how to
communicate. ​
Dolphins give birth every 2 years​
.​
Dolphins have blood come out after it gives birth​
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Dolphins do not have a mate for life​
.​
There are 43 species of dolphins​
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A dolphin mates by cuddling each other​
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It’s time to wrap this adventure! Those are the facts about dolphins. ​
As you can see​
,​
dolphins are very intelligent!
Sadly more than 20,000​
dolphins are killed each year,​
​
but over 243,500 dolphins are ​
born each year.​
I am going to tell you one fact ​
​
that I haven’t mentioned. ​
Dolphins need air every 30 minutes or less, depending on​
what kind of specie dolphin it is.​
​
You have ​
read everything about a dolphin, their characteristics, habitat, family life​
,​
and their diet!
Thank you for joining me on a Dolphin adventure!