10 Weird Dolphin Facts

Surprising facts about dolphins, that you might not know.

Our crew love to share, here are some of the more surprising facts about bottlenose dolphins, we share on our island and wildlife day cruise,

1. When humans take a breath, they replace only 15% of the air in their lungs with fresh air. When dolphins take a breath, they replace 90% of the air in their lungs with fresh air.

2. Scientists believe that dolphins don’t ever fall into a deep sleep; therefore, they probably don’t dream.

3. The dolphin brain is even more “folded” than humans’ and was this way millions of years before the first appearance of humans. Scientists often measure intelligence by the number of brain “folds.

4. Every year, a dolphin’s teeth grow a new layer, similar to the rings inside a tree trunk. Scientists can tell how old a dolphin is from the layers on its teeth.

5. Dolphins cannot swim backward, which makes it difficult for them to escape fishing nets. If they can’t get to the surface, they can drown in a matter of minutes.

6. Dolphins have 2 stomachs. One is used for storage of food, and the other is used for digestion

7. Dolphins can move their eyes separately from each other.

8. Dolphins have a poor sense of smell.

9. There are around 42 different species of dolphins worldwide, in New Zealand you can see 10.

10. Dolphin’s outer layer of skin gets replaced with new skin cells every two hours!