Dolphins

Look! There go dolphins! Don't you love to watch dolphins splash and play as they swim in pods around the oceans of the world? These amazing creatures provide us with so much interesting information that they have won the hearts of thousands of people.

Dolphins
By Horace Dobbs
Pushing through green waters
Symbol of joy
You leap from the depths
To touch the sky
Scattering spray
Like handfuls of jewels

Not caged by union rules
Unfettered by sales targets
No trains or planes to catch
Your time is set by the flow
Of the sea's tides
And the moons glow

You give us images of ecstasy
That we lock away
Behind the doors of memory
For quiet moments
When released from our possessions
We dream of a freedom like yours

All about Dolphins

Dolphins, members of the mammal group, are warm blooded, just like like all other mammals. They give birth to a young dolphin, called a calf, one at a time. They are "highly sociable" animals, and live in pretty large groups, called pods. To eat, they use their extremely strong tails, by hitting their prey up in the air stunning the catch that the dolphin has found. Then, when their prey has come back into the water, they scoop it up and eat it head first. To breathe, dolphins use the blow holes on their backs. In a fifth of a second, dolphins can empty and refill their lungs. They breathe air through their blowholes at over 100 miles per hour! Dolphin's teeth are "interlocking rows of conical pegs" which are excellent for holding slippery fish. The dolphin's eyes produce a unique secretion which protects the dolphin's sight from "foreign objects and water friction. Lastly, the dolphin's skin is like a slippery winter coat. It helps the dolphins reduce heat loss, and also helps them move smoothly and powerfully through the water.

Biological Classification of the Dolphin

Kingdom: Anamalia
Phylum: Cordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
Sub-order: Odontoceti
Family: Delphinidae
Genus: Delphinius
Species: Delphis