1. A small gregarious marine mammal related to whales that typically has a beaklike snout and a curved fin on the back: Dolphins have become well-known for their intelligence, friendliness, and general congenial social behavior.
2. Etymology: from Old French daulphin; from Medieval Latin dolfinus; from Latin delphinus, "dolphin"; from Greek delphis, delphinos, "dolphin".

More Information about Dolphins

• Dolphins are very social creatures and quite affectionate with each other.
• Dolphins communicate primarily by means of sounds which include whistles, but also so-called pulsed sounds, which are often described as squawks, barks, rasps, etc.
• In addition, they use breaching (jumping and falling back into the water with a loud splash) and pectoral fin (or flipper) and tail (or fluke) slaps (hitting the flipper or fluke on the water surface).
• Their body posturing and jaw popping are also a a part of their communication techniques.
• Dolphins, and other whales with teeth, can produce high pitched clicks. When these clicking sounds strike an object, some of the sound will echo back to the senders.
• By listening to the echo and interpreting the time it takes before the echo comes back, the dolphins can estimate the distance of the objects; such as, fish or squid.
• Whales and dolphins can be found in almost every sea and ocean, from the Arctic ocean, through the tropics all the way to the Antarctic.
• Each species of dolphin has its own preferred type of habitat; some live in cold water and others live only in tropical oceans.
• There are a number of dolphin species that live in fresh water; such as, the river dolphin families; including, the Platanistidae (Ganges and Indus river Dolphins), the Iniidae (the boto or Amazon river Dolphin) and the Pontoporiidae (the baiji and the franciscana).
• Most dolphins live in the ocean, but the ocean water is too salty for them to drink.
• They get most of their water intake from their food; such as, fish and squid.

A very good example of the friendly and social behavior of dolphins can be seen
by clicking on this Cat On Boat Plays With Dolphins site.