Channel One Reporters Swim with Dolphins, Share Fun Facts About These Cute Animals

Though it can be hard to measure intelligence in animals, there’s no denying that dolphins are some of the smartest mammals around. They can use tools, communicate with each other and have better strategies for catching fish than humans do. As part of Channel One’s Animal Intelligence series, Maggie and Demetrius traveled to Honduras and actually swam with a pod of dolphins! Check out what they learned and see some behind-the-scenes footage below:

Keep reading for more facts about these adorable geniuses.

• Dolphins can consume up to 30 pounds of fish a day.
• Instead of drinking water, dolphins get all of the fluids they need through eating fish.
• Dolphins usually live and hunt together in groups called “pods.”
• Like people, dolphins can communicate with each other using sounds like clicking and whistling.
• Dolphins sleep, but they only shut down one side of their brain at a time to stay safe from predators.

• Most dolphins are born with a little bit of hair, but it falls off after two weeks.
• Though they live underwater, dolphins also need to breathe and frequently rise to the surface of the water to take air in through their blowholes.
• Dolphins can hold their breath for 5-7 minutes.
• Though you can’t see their ears, dolphins can hear ten times better than humans do.

• Killer whales are actually a type of dolphin.
• There are 40 species of dolphins that live all over the world.
• The smallest species of dolphin is the Maui dolphin, which only grows to be 4 feet long.
• The largest species of dolphin is the killer whale, which can grow to 25 feet long and weigh 19,000 pounds.
• Dolphins are very playful, and like to play games among themselves and with other animals. Some have even been known to befriend dogs!

• Family and friendship bonds are very important to dolphins. They have been observed in the wild caring for the sick and elderly members of their pods.
• When it comes to smell, humans do way better than dolphins. They can’t smell anything at all.
• Humans are the dolphins’ biggest predator. Due to pollution and overfishing, dolphin populations have decreased a lot. One species, the Yangtze dolphin, was declared extinct in 2006.
• Dolphins are very smart and can be taught to perform tricks and understand up to 60 words.

• The evolution of dolphins’ brains is very similar to humans’.
• Dolphins can heal super fast! They can recover quickly from wounds that would kill most other mammals, and scientists can’t figure out why.
• The Ancient Greeks thought that dolphins were fish from the gods, and killing them was against the law.
• The Narwhal dolphin has a horn in the middle of its head, like a unicorn.

• Dolphins can use sound to “see,” a skill that’s called echolocation. They make sounds that bump off of objects to let them know where they are.
• Most wild animals are scared of humans, but dolphins like interacting with people, especially children.