Ask Me Everything8

Funny features

The extremely rare Ganges river dolphin

has a superlong beak packed with Sharp teeth.

The beluga whale lives in arctic waters. Its white skin is good camouflage at the ocean’s silvery surface.

Resembling a unicorn’s horn, the spiral “tusk” on the małe narwhal’s head is actually a very long tooth.

Some Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins

look pink but most are gray or white. Ali are bom black!

Two large teeth jut from the jaw of Blainville’s beaked whale. They are often encrusted with barnacles.

Most Risso’s dolphins

are covered in scars. Why? Because other Risso’s dolphins have bitten them!

Forage for

food. Remember you only have around half an hour before you start running out of oxygen.

Tell me morę: dolphin design

Dorsal fin: Helps heat escape, keeping the dolphin cool

Blowhole: Is used to breathe at the surface without slowing down

Blubber: Provides insulation and allows the dolphin to travel long distances without feeding

Brain: Shuts down half at a time, so the dolphin can rest

Streamlined shape: Reduces drag (water resistance)

Strong taił:

Powers the animal through the water

Skin: Grows new layers frequently to prevent barnacles

Flippers: Work like hydrofoils, lifting up the dolphin as it swims

Slender jaws: May

contain morę than 100 peglike teeth

1 WEIRD , * ORWHAT? ¹

When they’re in murky water, river dolphins

often trail one flipper along the bottom. They “feel” their way along!

In numbers

Clicks, whistles, and songs

Cetaceans are social

animals that live in family groups known as pods. They use sound to stay in touch.

In the 1940s, researchers V first used microphones to listen to whales communicating.

Bottle-nosed dolphins cali

each other by “name”— each one has a signature whistle.

Blue and fin whales sing V* songs too Iow (10 Hertz) for us to hear. The sounds travel 1,120 miles (1,800 km) or morę.

Sperm whales are the ^<Ł'^Xs’~'V loudest animals on Earth.

Amazon river dolphins A? click as they hunt and listen for the echoes. They identify prey by the echo that comes back.

Clever tactics

Lobtailing: This is

when a whale smacks down its taił to stun prey.

Bubble netting:

Humpback whales create rising bubbles that confuse fish into forming an easy-to-swallow bali.

Beaching: Orcas ^- ^ snatch seal pups by crashing on to the beach.

Ramming: With their ~~ ~~^*hard beaks, bottle-nosed dolphins can kill sharks.

Spyhopping: This

is similar to “treading water. ” Orcas hołd themselves upright in the water as they look around for prey.

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. Ali Rights Reserved