11 Bottlenose Dolphin Facts For Kids

The bottlenose dolphin is the most common type of dolphin to be found in the waters; it’s so common that many people don’t even realize that there are other types of dolphins swimming in the ocean! These dolphins are very smart and very friendly, and they are often seen swimming off the coast of the ocean, even shadowing boats and sailors or getting close to swimmers.

1. Bottlenose dolphins are also often seen in water parks, doing tricks for the crowds. They are so intelligent and so easy to train that they have even been used by the army, finding other divers, bombs and other dangerous explosives that have been planted in the ocean! Check out some fun facts about bottlenose dolphins and what they can do.

How They Travel

When bottlenose dolphins travel in a group, this group is called a pod. Usually there are 10 to 30 dolphins that travel together in a pod. However, some dolphins swim by themselves and some pods may have up to a thousand dolphins! They travel this way for safety and for companionship. They also work together to find fish they can eat and to harvest fish and seaweed that grows in the ocean, which is part of their diet.

How They Communicate

3. Bottlenose dolphins are one of the rare types of ocean creatures that communicates with sounds, which usually come from their blowhole. These sounds are like squeaks and whistles and each sound has a meaning, just like when people talk.

4. The sound that bottlenose dolphins make are used to communicate with other dolphins but they are also used underwater. A bottlenose dolphin will make a sound and then wait to hear the echo of that sound. This tells them something about what’s around them in the water, such as other dolphins, fish that may want to eat them, and fish that they may want to eat.

5. Another way that bottlenose dolphins communicate is by jumping up from the water and slapping their tails onto the water. The slapping tells other dolphins different things about the water or what the dolphin is trying to communicate.

How Smart They Are

6. Do you know how smart bottlenose dolphins really are? They have been trained in what is called mimicry, where they imitate something they see. You may have seen this at a water park, when a dolphin waves at someone who waves at them. They also jump through hoops because they’re following the movement of the arms of their trainer.

7. Dolphins also understand what is called numerical values, meaning they can understand numbers and how many there are of something. A trainer can teach them about numbers and a dolphin can then understand if the trainer is holding up three fish versus two fish. They may not be able to do math by adding and subtracting, but most animals don’t understand numbers at all!

8. A bottlenose dolphin also understands how to use things like how humans use tools. They will put a sea sponge on their nose when swimming or hunting, to protect it from being scraped and to make themselves more comfortable. Most animals would not know how to do that! These dolphins also teach their offspring how to do the same thing, which also shows how intelligent they are. Most animals learn on their own by instinct, but not because a parent teaches them anything.

9. Bottlenose dolphins also show a great amount of memory, which is very different from other animals and sea creatures. A trainer can show them an object and then hide it under something else and the dolphin will be able to find it because it will remember where it went. Other animals may be able to find the object if it has a particular smell but dolphins are one of the few that can remember things they’ve been shown.

10. Maybe one of the best ways that dolphins show how smart they are is by cooperating with humans. They seem to understand when humans put nets in the ocean to catch fish, and they will help the humans by guiding the fish into the nets, catching and eating any that get away. This allows the humans to get more fish into their nets quickly and easily, and the dolphins also have a tasty snack as their reward.

11. Bottlenose dolphins are some of the most interesting creatures found in the ocean and possibly in the whole world. They are intelligent and fun and can interact with humans, and are known to be very playful. If you ever have a chance to visit a water park, you might want to check out the dolphin shows. You may better understand why so many humans love to have them on display and why they’re considered so intelligent.