Dolphins



**__Classification:__** 
 * Kingdom- Animalia
 * Phylum- Chordata
 * Class- Mammalia
 * Order- Cete
 * Family- Delphinidae
 * Genius- Lagenorhynchus
 * Species- L. obliquidens(Pacific Ocean) or L. acutus(Atlantic Ocean)

**__General Information:__** 
 * Dolphins are tropical, marine mammals. Tropical marine means that the live in the tropical parts of the ocean, and mammal means that they: have hair, are warm-blooded, breathe air, and give birth to live young.
 * The average life-span of a dolphin is 25 years. This may not seem long, but to a marine mammal, it's a pretty long time!
 * Dolphins eat a variety of things: small fish, mullet, mackerel, herring, cod, and squid.
 * Dolphins are close relatives to whales.
 * Dolphins can hold their breath for 5 to 8 minutes under water.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">Male and female dolphins normally look almost exactly the same(grey, slick, etc). However, Males tend to be slightly bigger.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">Human eyes vary greatly in color, dolphin eyes are only black.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">Dolphins range in size from 5 to 18 feet in length.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">There are over 40 species of dolphins. Some have as many as 250 teeth!
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">Dolphins have to be conscious to breathe. This means that they cannot go into a deep sleep because they would suffocate. They have fixed this problem by only letting half of their brains go to sleep at a time. Dolphins sleep 8 hours a day in this fashion.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">We all know that a group of cows is called a heard, and geese travel in flocks, but what is a group of dolphins called? Dolphins travel in groups of about 12 known as a pod.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">In one day a dolphin will eat 4-9% of its body weight.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">Unlike the fish they live with, dolphins can stop swimming. They don't need the continuous flow of oxygen over their gills, so this gives them the ability to stop swimming.
 * __ Jokes __**


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Does a dolphin ever do something on accident?
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">No, they do everyting on porpoise.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Why do dolphins only swim in salty water?
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Pepper makes them sneeze.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">How does a group of dolphins make decisions?
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Flipper coin.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**__<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: center;">Links __**
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">To get a coloring page of a dolphin, click here:
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 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">To see a video of a dolphin, click here:
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 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">For more information, click here:
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 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">For more pictures, click here:
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 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">To see a slideshow of dolphins and whales, click here:
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**__<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Resources: __** (pictures) bighugelabs.com/mosaic.php www.dryden.ca/UserFiles/Servers/Server_6/Image/Dolphin%20text.jpg greenphillyblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/dolphins.jpg www.follybeach.com/Dolphin-face.jpg img-dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05_01/dolphinsDm2804_468x541.jpg (classification) wiki.answer.com/Q/Species_classification_for_white_sided_dolphin (general information) [|www.ehow.com/about_4586901_what-dolphins]-life-spam.html www.factsaboutdolphins.net/what_do_dolphins_eat/what_do_dolphins_eat.html thewebsiteofeverything.com/animals/mammals/cetocea/Delphinidea/index.html www.indianchild.com/dolphins.htm wikianswers.com/Q/Who_grows_bigger_the_male_dolphin_or_the_female_dolphin www.crystalinks.com/dolphins.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin www.dolphinear.com/data/dolphin.htm www.dolphins-world.com/what_is_a_group_of_dolphins_called.html stason.org/TULARC/animals/dolphins/2-8-what-and-how-much-do-dolphins-eat.html wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webun (jokes) []