Dolphin 海豚 (2)

A baby dolphin is called a calf. A calf can swim as soon as it is born. It drinks milk from its mother’s body. When the little dolphin is about six months old, it starts to eat fish.

A baby dolphin has a small mouth. The calf smacks food against the water to break it into bite-size bits.

Dolphins live in small groups called pods. Some pods join together to form schools. A dolphin school may have more than 1,000 animals.

Dolphins use squeaks, squeals, and whistles to “talk” to each other. Some dolphins in a pod are in charge of watching for sharks and other predators. Every dolphin has its own name. Each name is a series of whistling sounds.

Dolphins work together to catch prey. Dolphin pods will swim circles around a school of fish until the fish are tightly packed together. When the fish have nowhere to escape, the dolphins take turns diving in for a snack.

Dolphins have great eyesight, but the ocean can be very dark. It’s hard for dolphins to see the little fish they like to eat on the ocean floor. If a dolphin is hunting alone, it will put its head to the ground and make a clicking noise. The noise hits anything in the dolphin’s path and bounces back. A dolphin can find a fish by seeing it with sound!