Quiz on Dolphins

Despite living in water, dolphins are which kind of animal?

• Mammals ✓ (Correct answer)
• Fish
• Amphibians
• Reptiles

Source: Dolphins are warm-blooded mammals that breathe air and nurse their young with milk, just like us.

Dolphins breathe air through which body part?

• Gills
• Blowhole ✓ (Correct answer)
• Mouth
• Skin

Source: A dolphin's blowhole is a nostril on top of its head, sealed by a muscular flap when underwater.

What do dolphins use echolocation for?

• Producing electricity
• Sensing magnetic north
• Finding food and navigating ✓ (Correct answer)
• Filtering salt

Source: Dolphins bounce clicks off objects and read the echoes, effectively 'seeing' fish in dark water.

What is a group of dolphins commonly called?

• A school
• A pod ✓ (Correct answer)
• A herd
• A flock

Source: Dolphins travel in pods that can merge into superpods of over a thousand animals.

Dolphins are best known for their high intelligence and what other trait?

• Solitary lives
• Playful social behavior ✓ (Correct answer)
• Hibernation
• Building nests

Source: Dolphins surf waves, blow bubble rings and play with seaweed seemingly just for fun.

What do dolphins mainly eat?

• Seaweed and algae
• Plankton
• Coral
• Fish and squid ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: Dolphins are carnivores, herding fish and snatching squid rather than grazing on plants.

How do dolphins sleep without drowning?

• Floating fully unconscious
• Resting on the seabed
• Half their brain stays awake ✓ (Correct answer)
• They don't sleep

Source: Dolphins shut down one brain hemisphere at a time, keeping one eye open to surface for air.

Which famous river is home to the pink river dolphin?

• The Nile
• The Amazon ✓ (Correct answer)
• The Mississippi
• The Ganges

Source: The Amazon's boto turns pink with age, and males get rosier to attract mates.

Which is the largest member of the dolphin family?

• Orca ✓ (Correct answer)
• Blue whale
• Bottlenose dolphin
• Narwhal

Source: The killer whale is actually the biggest dolphin, despite 'whale' being in its name.

Which sense is dramatically reduced or absent in dolphins?

• Smell ✓ (Correct answer)
• Hearing
• Touch
• Sight

Source: Dolphins have no functional sense of smell underwater, relying on sound and taste instead.

Which 1960s TV show starred a heroic bottlenose dolphin?

• Sea Hunt
• Flipper ✓ (Correct answer)
• Daktari
• Gentle Ben

Source: The dolphin star inspired a generation, though decades later trainers regretted the captivity it normalized.

How do dolphins identify each other across the ocean?

• Unique skin patterns
• Scent trails
• Signature whistles ✓ (Correct answer)
• Fin shapes

Source: Each dolphin invents its own signature whistle, essentially a name it answers to for life.

What is the bulging, fatty organ in a dolphin's forehead called?

• The rostrum
• The melon ✓ (Correct answer)
• The keel
• The fluke

Source: The fatty 'melon' focuses a dolphin's clicks into a beam, acting as a biological sonar lens.

Roughly how long can a bottlenose dolphin hold its breath underwater?

• About 1 minute
• About 7 minutes ✓ (Correct answer)
• About 30 minutes
• About 2 hours

Source: Bottlenoses typically dive for around seven minutes, storing extra oxygen in their muscles.

Some dolphins carry sea sponges on their snouts. Why?

• To clean their teeth
• To protect while foraging ✓ (Correct answer)
• To attract mates
• To carry food

Source: Shark Bay dolphins use sponges as tools to shield their beaks while probing the rough seabed.

How do mother dolphins nurse their calves underwater?

• Calves graze independently
• On land at low tide
• Milk is squirted into the mouth ✓ (Correct answer)
• They regurgitate food

Source: Mothers squirt thick, fatty milk into the calf's mouth so little is lost to the sea.

The vaquita, the world's most endangered marine mammal, is a type of what?

• Porpoise ✓ (Correct answer)
• True dolphin
• Seal
• Sea lion

Source: The tiny vaquita is a porpoise, with fewer than a dozen left in Mexico's Gulf of California.

In Brazil's Laguna, dolphins have cooperated with whom for over a century?

• Pelican flocks
• Human fishermen ✓ (Correct answer)
• Sea lions
• Tour boats

Source: Laguna dolphins signal with tail slaps telling fishermen exactly when to cast their nets.

What does a dolphin's distinctive curved dorsal fin mainly provide?

• Propulsion power
• Oxygen absorption
• Stability while swimming ✓ (Correct answer)
• Heat generation

Source: The dorsal fin is a keel for balance and also sheds body heat, like a built-in radiator.

Which behavior shows dolphins likely recognize themselves in a mirror?

• Mimicking the reflection's clicks
• Inspecting marks on their bodies ✓ (Correct answer)
• Attacking the glass
• Ignoring it entirely

Source: Dolphins twist to examine marks visible only in a mirror, a rare sign of self-awareness.