The Fascinating Lives of Dolphin Calves: Nature’s Adorable Sea Mammals

Dolphin calves are some of the most adorable sea mammals in the world. They are brilliant, creative, playful, and adept swimmers from birth. Dolphin calves weigh between 22 and 44 pounds and are 43 to 53 inches long. Classified as toothed whales (Odontoceti), there are presently 42 extant species of dolphins. Adult dolphins are fascinating, and so are their offspring. Continue reading to discover five fabulous facts about dolphin calves.

1. Baby Dolphins Use Their Tongues as Straws

Dolphin calves are faced with a unique challenge when it comes to nursing from their mothers: they are underwater. Dolphin calves roll their tongues up like a straw when it’s time to drink their mother’s milk. Dolphin calves don’t control how much they eat; instead, their mothers do. Once a dolphin calf is latched onto its mother’s nipple, the female dolphin shoots milk directly into the baby dolphin’s mouth. This makes it possible for a full feeding to take just a few seconds. 

Another thing that makes it easier for baby dolphins to drink milk underwater is the consistency of the breastmilk. It is about as thick as a milkshake, which makes it less difficult for baby dolphins to get their nutrition while swimming under the sea!

2. One Dolphin Calf Blew Underwater Milk Rings to Imitate Its Trainer

Baby dolphins are quite intelligent. A six-month-old baby dolphin named Dolly learned how to copy its trainer’s smoke rings underwater. This tiny dolphin saw her trainer blow a cloud of smoke, so it swam back to its mother, got a mouthful of breastmilk, and swam back. She then spat the milk out in the water, creating a smoke-like cloud around her! 

Dolly’s trainer stated that he hadn’t worked with her to do this trick at all. Instead, she made the connection that spitting out the milk underwater would look similar to smoke in the air. This incident just goes to show how incredibly intelligent baby dolphins are.

3. Dolphins are Born with Mustaches

Baby dolphins are born with a mustache. What is interesting about this mustache is what it does for the tiny sea animals. Since baby dolphins are born with poor eyesight, they need a way to locate their mothers during their first few days. The tiny hairs are short and grow around the baby’s snout. After a few days, these hairs are naturally shed since dolphin calves no longer need them. 

4. Baby Dolphins Can’t Breathe Underwater 

Baby dolphins are marine animals; however, they are mammals and can’t breathe underwater like fish. That means baby dolphins and their parents lack gills, which makes it impossible for them to breathe underwater. Instead, they must come to the surface to get air.

Because of this, baby dolphins are born tail-first. This ensures that they don’t drown before they can surface for their first breath of air. Dolphin calves can typically hold their breath underwater for 8 to 10 minutes. They can conserve the air in their lungs and only need to use a little at a time to keep oxygen flowing to their brains.

Baby dolphins also don’t breathe out of their mouths like other mammals. Instead, they take oxygen in from blowholes, which are on the tops of their heads. Each time a dolphin calf takes a breath, it exchanges up to 80-95% of the air in their lungs, while humans typically exchange about 17%.

5. Dolphin Calves Learn to Swim in the Mother’s Womb

When baby dolphins are born, they must immediately swim to the surface to take their first breath of air. Therefore, they must learn to swim while they’re gestating in their mother’s womb. According to scientists, baby dolphins have been observed swimming around inside the womb as early as 9 weeks. Since dolphins have a gestation period that ranges from nine to twelve months, dolphin calves have plenty of time to get all the practice they need.