By: Katherine Huang

Dolphins are without a doubt one of the most well-known ocean animals. But have you ever wondered about some fascinating things about them? In this article, I’ll talk about five interesting facts about dolphins.

Firstly, they can let half of their brain sleep at a time. While our doctors recommend humans to sleep at least eight hours a day, sleeping in an ocean full of predators is very different. Dolphins solve this problem by only letting half of their brains sleep at a time. They even sleep with one eye open. They also generally let half of their brains sleep for only 10-15 minutes. This way, they can also come up to the surface to breath and also avoid predators.

Next, dolphins are super-fast swimmers! Similar to the way boats are streamlined with a sharp point and a curvy shape to help with speed, dolphins are also streamlined. With smooth skin and a powerful tail, these mammals can go really fast!

Reason three, these mammals can jump up to 6 meters out of the water, equivalent to a two-story house. This is about twice their body length. For comparison, if humans could jump twice our length, we probably could jump over a school bus.

To add on, dolphins swim in groups of up to 2,000 animals! Dolphins are VERY social animals. They live in pods or a large group of dolphins. A pod usually consists of about 30 dolphins, but they can be much bigger. Sometimes several pods combine to hunt. This is useful as hunting becomes easier and everyone benefits.

Last but not least, dolphins use echoes to locate prey and to find their way around. Dolphins use a variety of squeaks and whistles to communicate with one and another.

In conclusion, I talked about five fascinating facts about dolphins. How they let half of their brain sleep at a time, they are super-fast swimmers, can jump out of the water to up to 6 meters, swim in groups of more than 2,000, and how they use echoes locate prey and to find there way around. What do you think about dolphins?