Dolphin trivia has a way of making every quiz night feel a little more buoyant.
These 120 questions swim through anatomy, communication, famous species, clever behavior, ocean life, and conservation.
Dolphin Family Basics
Q: Are dolphins mammals or fish?
A: Mammals.
Q: What order of mammals includes dolphins, whales, and porpoises?
A: Cetacea.
Q: Do dolphins belong to the toothed or baleen whale group?
A: Toothed whales.
Q: What is the scientific name for the toothed whale group?
A: Odontoceti.
Q: What family contains most oceanic dolphins?
A: Delphinidae.
Q: What is the largest member of the dolphin family?
A: The orca, or killer whale.
Q: What familiar dolphin species is known for its short, bottle-shaped snout?
A: The bottlenose dolphin.
Q: What genus includes the common bottlenose dolphin?
A: Tursiops.
Q: What is a group of dolphins commonly called?
A: A pod.
Q: What is a baby dolphin called?
A: A calf.
Q: What is an adult male dolphin called?
A: A bull.
Q: What is an adult female dolphin called?
A: A cow.
Q: Are dolphins warm-blooded or cold-blooded?
A: Warm-blooded.
Q: Do all dolphins live in saltwater?
A: No, several species live in rivers.
Q: What close cetacean relatives are usually smaller and have spade-shaped teeth?
A: Porpoises.
Built to Swim
Q: What opening on top of a dolphin's head lets it breathe?
A: A blowhole.
Q: How many blowholes does a dolphin have?
A: One.
Q: What are the two lobes of a dolphin's tail called?
A: Flukes.
Q: Does a dolphin move its tail mainly up and down or side to side?
A: Up and down.
Q: What are a dolphin's front limbs called?
A: Flippers.
Q: What fin on a dolphin's back helps stabilize it?
A: The dorsal fin.
Q: What streamlined body shape helps dolphins move efficiently through water?
A: A fusiform shape.
Q: What insulating layer lies beneath a dolphin's skin?
A: Blubber.
Q: Must dolphins surface to breathe?
A: Yes.
Q: Is dolphin breathing voluntary or fully automatic?
A: Voluntary.
Q: What muscular flap seals a dolphin's blowhole underwater?
A: A blowhole valve.
Q: What pigment-rich protein stores oxygen in dolphin muscles?
A: Myoglobin.
Q: What happens to a dolphin's heart rate during a dive?
A: It slows.
Q: What organ produces milk for a dolphin calf?
A: Mammary glands.
Q: How do dolphin calves usually emerge during birth, headfirst or tailfirst?
A: Tailfirst.
Clicks, Whistles, and Echolocation
Q: What ability lets dolphins locate objects using reflected sound?
A: Echolocation.
Q: What sounds do dolphins produce for echolocation?
A: Clicks.
Q: What fatty organ in a dolphin's forehead focuses outgoing clicks?
A: The melon.
Q: Through what part of the lower jaw does returning sound travel toward the ear?
A: Specialized fatty tissue.
Q: What does the time between a click and its echo reveal?
A: An object's distance.
Q: Can echolocation help a dolphin judge an object's shape and size?
A: Yes.
Q: What individualized call functions a little like a dolphin's name?
A: A signature whistle.
Q: Besides whistles, what sharp social sounds do dolphins make?
A: Burst-pulsed sounds.
Q: Do dolphins have external ear flaps?
A: No.
Q: Is sound faster in water or air?
A: Water.
Q: What human-made underwater noise can interfere with dolphin communication?
A: Noise pollution.
Q: What underwater listening device records dolphin sounds?
A: A hydrophone.
Q: Can dolphins imitate some sounds they hear?
A: Yes.
Q: What action sends a loud signal when a dolphin hits the water with its tail?
A: A tail slap.
Q: What visible behavior occurs when a dolphin leaps clear of the water?
A: Breaching.
Brains, Sleep, and Social Smarts
Q: What unusual sleep pattern lets dolphins keep surfacing to breathe?
A: Unihemispheric sleep.
Q: During unihemispheric sleep, how much of the brain rests at once?
A: One hemisphere.
Q: What often happens to one eye while the opposite brain hemisphere rests?
A: It closes.
Q: Can bottlenose dolphins recognize themselves in a mirror?
A: Evidence indicates they can.
Q: What do some Shark Bay dolphins carry on their snouts while foraging?
A: Marine sponges.
Q: What does sponge carrying protect a dolphin's rostrum from?
A: Scrapes and stings on the seafloor.
Q: Is tool use by Shark Bay dolphins socially learned?
A: Yes.
Q: What cooperative hunting method has dolphins encircle fish with a ring of mud?
A: Mud-ring feeding.
Q: What do some dolphins do to herd fish into a tight group?
A: Work together as a team.
Q: What long-term social partnership is common among male bottlenose dolphins?
A: An alliance.
Q: Can dolphins remember signature whistles for decades?
A: Yes.
Q: What behavior involves dolphins riding the pressure wave made by a boat?
A: Bow riding.
Q: What is spyhopping?
A: Rising vertically to look above the water.
Q: Do dolphins sometimes surf waves?
A: Yes.
Q: What term describes animals whose social groups split and reunite over time?
A: Fission-fusion societies.
On the Dolphin Menu
Q: Are dolphins carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores?
A: Carnivores.
Q: Name two common types of dolphin prey.
A: Fish and squid.
Q: Do most dolphins chew their food?
A: No, they usually swallow it whole.
Q: What body part do dolphins use to grasp slippery prey?
A: Their teeth.
Q: What do dolphins use to find prey in dark or murky water?
A: Echolocation.
Q: What is strand feeding, practiced by some coastal dolphins?
A: Rushing onto a mudbank to catch fish.
Q: What feeding tactic uses bubbles to help corral fish?
A: Bubble-net or bubble herding.
Q: What do spinner dolphins commonly hunt at night?
A: Small fish and squid.
Q: Where do spinner dolphins often rest during the day?
A: Sheltered bays or nearshore waters.
Q: What powerful dolphin preys on seals, fish, and even large whales?
A: The orca.
Q: Do all orca populations eat the same prey?
A: No.
Q: What term describes an orca population with a distinct diet and culture?
A: An ecotype.
Q: What fish is central to the diet of many resident killer whales in the Pacific Northwest?
A: Salmon, especially Chinook salmon.
Q: What seabird-hunting trick has been observed in some dolphins?
A: Tossing or stunning prey before eating it.
Q: What ecological role do dolphins play as predators?
A: They help shape marine food webs.
Dolphins Around the World
Q: In what waters are bottlenose dolphins found?
A: Temperate and tropical seas worldwide.
Q: Which dolphin is famous for acrobatic spins in the air?
A: The spinner dolphin.
Q: What black-and-white dolphin lives around New Zealand's South Island?
A: Hector's dolphin.
Q: What critically endangered subspecies of Hector's dolphin lives off New Zealand's North Island?
A: Māui dolphin.
Q: What black-and-white dolphin is often seen in Antarctic and subantarctic waters?
A: The hourglass dolphin.
Q: Which dolphin has a long, narrow beak and striking dark cape pattern?
A: The common dolphin.
Q: What pinkish river dolphin lives in the Amazon and Orinoco basins?
A: The Amazon river dolphin, or boto.
Q: What nearly blind river dolphin lives in the Ganges and Brahmaputra river systems?
A: The Ganges river dolphin.
Q: What river dolphin lives in the Indus River system?
A: The Indus river dolphin.
Q: What Chinese river dolphin is considered functionally extinct?
A: The baiji.
Q: What stocky Arctic dolphin lacks a dorsal fin and turns white as an adult?
A: The beluga.
Q: What dolphin species is known for a tall, curved dorsal fin and dark gray body with lighter markings?
A: Risso's dolphin.
Q: What gives older Risso's dolphins their heavily scarred appearance?
A: Tooth rakes and encounters with prey.
Q: Which dolphin has a rounded forehead and no distinct beak?
A: The pilot whale.
Q: Despite their names, pilot whales are members of what family?
A: The oceanic dolphin family.
Species With Standout Features
Q: Which dolphin has a bold black-and-white pattern and is sometimes called the skunk dolphin?
A: Commerson's dolphin.
Q: Which small, stocky dolphin is found along the coast of Chile?
A: The Chilean dolphin.
Q: Which robust tropical dolphin has a dark stripe running from each eye toward its flipper?
A: Fraser's dolphin.
Q: What long-beaked dolphin often gathers in very large, energetic groups?
A: The common dolphin.
Q: Which dolphin has a prominent hump beneath its dorsal fin?
A: The humpback dolphin.
Q: What warm-water dolphin often has spots as an adult?
A: The Atlantic spotted dolphin.
Q: Which dolphin has a pale, flame-shaped marking that sweeps up each side of its body?
A: The Pacific white-sided dolphin.
Q: What deep-diving dolphin often feeds on squid and has a bulbous forehead?
A: Risso's dolphin.
Q: Which dolphin species has a very long, slender beak and is named for rough enamel ridges on its teeth?
A: The rough-toothed dolphin.
Q: What small, dark dolphin lives in cool Southern Hemisphere waters and lacks a beak?
A: The southern right whale dolphin.
Q: What unusual feature do northern and southern right whale dolphins share?
A: They have no dorsal fin.
Q: Which dolphin is associated with the Irrawaddy, Mekong, and Mahakam rivers as well as coastal waters?
A: The Irrawaddy dolphin.
Q: What shape is the Irrawaddy dolphin's head?
A: Rounded, with no prominent beak.
Q: Which dolphin has been observed working with fishers in Laguna, Brazil?
A: The common bottlenose dolphin.
Q: What is the only living member of the genus Orcinus?
A: The orca.
Conservation, Science, and Dolphin Culture
Q: What fishing-related threat occurs when dolphins are caught unintentionally?
A: Bycatch.
Q: What type of fishing gear can entangle dolphins in nearshore waters?
A: Gillnets.
Q: What pollution builds up in dolphin tissues as it moves through a food web?
A: Persistent chemical pollution.
Q: What discarded material can entangle or be swallowed by dolphins?
A: Marine debris.
Q: What navigation technology can produce intense underwater sound?
A: Sonar.
Q: Why can feeding wild dolphins be harmful?
A: It can change their behavior and make them dependent on people.
Q: What should boaters do when dolphins are nearby?
A: Keep a safe distance and avoid chasing them.
Q: What research method identifies dolphins by marks on their dorsal fins?
A: Photo-identification.
Q: What small sample can reveal a dolphin's genetics, hormones, and diet?
A: A biopsy sample.
Q: What temporary device can record a dolphin's movements and dives?
A: A tag.
Q: What television dolphin lived at the fictional Coral Key Park?
A: Flipper.
Q: What 1960s television series featured Flipper?
A: Flipper.
Q: What Douglas Adams novel jokes that dolphins leave Earth saying, “So long, and thanks for all the fish”?
A: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Q: What ancient Greek city gave dolphins their English name through the word delphis?
A: Delphi.
Q: What U.S. law protects dolphins and other marine mammals in American waters?
A: The Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Your Fin-tastic Finish
If you made it through all 120, give yourself a victory leap. Keep the fun afloat with our science trivia and animal trivia.
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