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99 free Dolphins trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
15 free Dolphins trivia questions with answers. Dolphins trivia lives in two places on BrainPickle. This page is the shorter set; the main quiz is Dolphin trivia, with our deepest question pool on the topic and a source behind every answer.
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Q 01What makes up the bulk of most dolphins' diet?
Fish and squid
Fish and squid make up most dolphins' diet; pods herd fish into a tight 'bait ball' and take turns charging through it, while orcas also take seals and other marine mammals.
Q 02Which animal is scientifically classified as the largest species of dolphin?
Killer whale
The Killer whale, or orca, is roughly 200 times heavier than the smallest dolphin, and one of six Delphinidae species commonly called whales.
Q 03Which dolphin, the only cetacean endemic to New Zealand, is also among the smallest?
Hector's
Hector's dolphin lives only in New Zealand waters; adults reach just 1.2–1.6 metres and about 50 kg, making it one of the smallest dolphins in the world.
Q 04Through what specialized opening do dolphins breathe air?
Blowhole
Dolphins breathe through a blowhole on top of the head, a modified nostril sealed by a muscular flap underwater; their exhaled spout is small and hard to spot compared with great whales'.
Q 05What is a typical group of dolphins called?
Pod
Where food is plentiful, pods merge into superpods that can top 1,000 animals; males are bulls, females cows and the young calves.
Q 06What sensory ability do dolphins use to navigate and hunt in low visibility?
Echolocation
Echolocation lets dolphins emit sound pulses and read the returning echoes, which reveal an object's position, size and shape even in murky or dark water.
Q 07Which fatty organ in a dolphin's forehead focuses its echolocation sounds into a beam?
Melon
The melon, a fat-filled organ in the forehead, focuses sound pulses made at the phonic lips into a forward beam; returning echoes are received through fat in the lower jaw.
Q 08Besides whistles, what sound do dolphins fire off in rapid 'trains' to echolocate, using nasal air sacs rather than vocal cords?
Clicks
Clicks come from recycled air pushed through nasal air sacs and 'phonic lips', not vocal cords; a rapid directional series is called a click train.
Q 09A dolphin's conical teeth are built for what job?
Seizing fast-moving prey
They grab fish, squid and even seals; porpoises have spade-shaped teeth instead, the easiest way to tell the two apart.
Q 10How often can a bottlenose dolphin's outermost skin layer be replaced?
Every 2 hours
A bottlenose dolphin's outermost skin layer can be replaced every 2 hours, about nine times faster than human skin; the constant sloughing keeps the surface smooth and cuts drag.
Q 11Roughly how long is an orca's gestation period?
17 months
An orca's gestation lasts about 17 months, among the longest of any dolphin; a bottlenose dolphin carries its calf for about 12 months.
Q 12What is a dolphin's dorsal fin primarily composed of?
Fibrous connective tissue
The dorsal fin contains no bone or cartilage; it is dense fibrous connective tissue, as are the tail flukes. Only the pectoral flippers hold bones, the remains of a land ancestor's forelimbs.
Q 13How do dolphins manage to sleep without drowning?
They rest one brain half at a time
Q 21What is the top speed an orca can reach in the water?
55.5 km/h (34.5 mph)
An orca can hit about 55.5 km/h (34.5 mph) in short bursts, making it one of the fastest marine mammals; fused neck vertebrae add stability at speed.
Q 22In Peru, dolphin meat is sold under the name chancho marino, meaning what?
Sea pork
Chancho marino means 'sea pork', the name under which dolphin meat is sold in Peru; although the hunt is illegal, fishermen harpoon thousands of dolphins a year.
Q 23Bottlenose dolphins are known to have 'signature' versions of what, unique to each individual?
Whistles
Each bottlenose dolphin develops a signature whistle in its first year, a unique call used like a name; dolphins answer to their own whistles when these are played back to them.
The waking hemisphere keeps them surfacing to breathe and watching for predators; a tail-kick reflex can also keep the blowhole above water.
Q 14Shark Bay bottlenose dolphins in Australia teach their young to wear what while foraging?
Sponges
Shark Bay dolphins wear marine sponges on their beaks to protect them while rooting for fish on the seabed; the habit is learned, passed mostly from mother to daughter, a clear case of animal culture.
Q 15Which continent is home to the boto, a river dolphin with poor eyesight, thought to feel with hairs on its snout?
South America
South America's boto, the Amazon river dolphin, is thought to use small hairs on its snout for touch; unlike sea dolphins, river dolphins have unfused neck bones and can turn their heads 90 degrees.
Q 16The word 'dolphin' comes from the Greek delphís, related to a Greek word meaning what?
Womb
The name can be read as 'a fish with a womb'; the 'ph' spelling was reintroduced through Old French daulphin.
Q 17How many extant species of dolphin are there?
40
About 40 extant species are called dolphins, spread across five families, from the 1.7-metre Māui dolphin to the orca, which can reach over 9 metres.
Q 18What are the closest living relatives of dolphins and other cetaceans?
Hippopotamuses
Hippopotamuses are the cetaceans' closest living relatives: both descend from even-toed ungulates, and genetic studies group hippos and whales together as Whippomorpha.
Q 19Six dolphin species thought of as whales, including the orca, are known collectively as what?
Blackfish
'Blackfish' is the traditional name for six dark-coloured delphinids: the orca, false killer whale, pygmy killer whale, melon-headed whale and the two pilot whale species.
Q 20Unlike most other mammals, dolphin calves are usually born in what way?
Tail first
Dolphin calves are born tail first, so the blowhole emerges last and the calf can be nudged to the surface for its first breath; most land mammals emerge head first.
Q 24Male river dolphins in Brazil have been observed using weeds and sticks for what purpose?
Sexual display
Male botos carry weeds, sticks and lumps of clay in their jaws and thrash them at the surface as a sexual display, behaviour seen far more often in adult males and in the presence of females.
Q 25How much does an average bottlenose dolphin weigh?
300 kg (660 lb)
An average bottlenose dolphin weighs around 300 kg (660 lb), though adults range from about 150 to 650 kg; they can live for more than 40 years.
Q 26The baiji, a river dolphin declared functionally extinct in 2006, lived in which river?
The Yangtze
The baiji lived only in China's Yangtze River, where fishermen called it the 'Goddess of the Yangtze'; a 2006 survey of the river failed to find a single animal.
Q 27The Amazon river dolphin, or boto, is famous for turning what colour as an adult, especially in males?
Pink
Adult botos turn pink, males most of all, a colour thought to come from repeated skin abrasion in fights; it is the largest river dolphin, with males reaching about 185 kg.
Q 28The 1960s TV series Flipper, about a dolphin and a park ranger's family, aired on which US network?
NBC
Flipper ran on NBC from 1964 to 1967 and was billed as an 'aquatic Lassie'; co-creator Ricou Browning had played the creature in Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Q 29Pelorus Jack, who escorted ships through New Zealand's French Pass from 1888, was what species?
Risso's
Pelorus Jack was a Risso's dolphin, a blunt-headed grey species; after someone shot at him from a ship, the government protected him by Order in Council in 1904.
Q 30Which 1972 US law makes it illegal to harass, hunt or capture dolphins in American waters?
Marine Mammal Protection Act
The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 makes it illegal to harass, hunt, capture or kill dolphins in US waters without a permit; NOAA Fisheries enforces it for cetaceans.