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50 free Dolphins Trivia for Kids trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This dolphins for kids trivia quiz covers what makes dolphins so cool: they are mammals, not fish, they breathe through a blowhole, they find fish with clicks and echoes, they sleep with half their brain at a time, and each one has its own whistle that works like a name. It meets the bottlenose dolphin, the orca, the spinner dolphin, the common dolphin, the pink Amazon river dolphin and the tiny vaquita, and it stops by Flipper and the real dolphin Winter, who swam with a prosthetic tail. It is written for kids roughly 6 to 12, for aquarium trips, ocean units at school and family quiz night. Most questions are easy or medium and a few near the end will stretch older kids. Grown-ups who want a tougher run can try our hard nature or hard sharks trivia, and our main dolphins trivia page has the full mix. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia article on the species or topic, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Dolphins are not fish. What kind of animal are they?
Mammals
They breathe air, are warm-blooded and feed their babies milk, just like you.
Q 02About how many kinds of dolphin are alive today?
40
They range from the human-sized Maui's dolphin to the 9.5-metre orca.
Q 03What is the hole on top of a dolphin's head for?
Breathing
It is really a nostril that moved to the top of the head over millions of years.
Q 04What does a dolphin do when it breathes out through its blowhole?
Blasts stale air upwards
On a cold day you can see the puff, then it sucks in fresh air and dives.
Q 05What is a dolphin's tail called?
A fluke
It is flat and sideways, unlike a fish's tail which stands up and down, and the front flippers used to be arms.
Q 06What is the thick layer of fat that keeps a dolphin warm called?
Blubber
All sea mammals have it, from seals to whales.
Q 07What is a group of dolphins called?
A pod
Pods change size all the time as dolphins come and go, which scientists call fission-fusion.
Q 08What sounds do dolphins make to talk and to find things?
Clicks and whistles
They bounce clicks off objects and listen for the echo, which is called echolocation.
Q 09What is the fatty lump on a dolphin's forehead called, which helps focus its sound?
The melon
It works like a lens for sound and every toothed whale has one.
Q 10Which two animal groups are the best-known users of echolocation?
Toothed whales and bats
The word echolocation was coined in 1944 by Donald Griffin, who proved bats used it.
Q 11How do dolphins sleep without drowning?
One half of the brain sleeps at a time
The awake half keeps them breathing and watching for sharks, and one eye stays open.
Q 12Dolphins' hearing is so good that some can survive even if they are what?
Blind
Their ears work in both air and water, and echolocation lets them see with sound.
Q 13What do dolphins do for a friend who is hurt and struggling to breathe?
Push it up to the surface
Dolphins form strong friendships and stay with sick or injured members of the pod.
Q 21Which animal is the biggest member of the dolphin family?
The orca, or killer whale
Males can reach 10 metres, and their black-and-white saddle patches are unique to each animal.
Q 22Why did old-time sailors give orcas their scary nickname?
They saw them hunt bigger whales
Since the 1960s people have switched to calling them orcas.
Q 23How tall can a male orca's dorsal fin be?
About 1.8 metres (6 ft)
That is more than twice a female's, and hers is curved while his is a tall triangle.
Q 14How high can some dolphins leap out of the water?
9 metres (30 ft)
They can also sprint at about 29 km/h in short bursts.
Q 15What shape are a dolphin's teeth, perfect for gripping slippery fish?
Cone-shaped
They eat fish, squid and shrimp, and porpoises have spade-shaped teeth instead.
Q 16In which state was the 1960s TV show about a clever pet dolphin and a park warden's sons set?
Florida
Coral Key Park was a made-up version of a real reef park in Key Largo.
Q 17Every dolphin has its own special whistle that works a bit like what?
A name
Scientists call it a signature whistle, and other dolphins can recognise it.
Q 18Some wild bottlenose dolphins wear sea sponges on their faces. Why?
To protect their snouts while digging
It is called sponging, it is a tool, and mothers teach it to their calves.
Q 19Bottlenose dolphins can live for more than how many years?
40
They usually cruise at 5 to 11 km/h but can burst up to 35 km/h.
Q 20Militaries have trained bottlenose dolphins to do what job?
Find sea mines
They can also spot and mark enemy divers, thanks to their echolocation.
Q 24Female orcas can live to what age, meaning up to six generations swim together?
90
Orca pods are led by grandmothers, and wild females average 50 to 80 years.
Q 25Which dolphins are the second-largest after the orca and are nicknamed blackfish?
Pilot whales
They stay in the pod they were born into for their whole lives.
Q 26What is the spinner dolphin famous for?
Spinning around as it leaps
It twirls around its long axis in mid-air and lives in warm oceans all over the world.
Q 27Which is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with about six million alive?
The common dolphin
They gather in pods of hundreds or even thousands and have an hourglass pattern on their sides.
Q 28What colour do grown-up river dolphins in the Amazon turn?
Pink
They are also called botos, and they are the largest river dolphins at up to 2.5 metres.
Q 29Amazon river dolphins have unfused neck bones. What does that let them do?
Turn their heads to steer
When the Amazon floods, they hunt fish among the tree trunks.
Q 30Hector's dolphin lives only around which country?
New Zealand
It has a rounded dorsal fin some people say looks like a Mickey Mouse ear, and it is named after scientist James Hector.