Dolphin

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dolphin : any of various small marine toothed whales (family Delphinidae) with the snout more or less elongated into a beak and the neck vertebrae partially fused

Note: While not closely related, dolphins and porpoises share a physical resemblance that often leads to misidentification. Dolphins typically have cone-shaped teeth, curved dorsal fins, and elongated beaks with large mouths, while porpoises have flat, spade-shaped teeth, triangular dorsal fins, and shortened beaks with smaller mouths. — Merriam-Webster See also OneLook

Encyclopedia

Dolphins are a widely distributed and diverse group of aquatic mammals. They are an informal grouping within the order Cetacea, excluding whales and porpoises, so to zoologists the grouping is paraphyletic. The dolphins comprise the extant families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the new world river dolphins), and Pontoporiidae (the brackish dolphins), and the extinct Lipotidae (baiji or Chinese river dolphin). There are 40 extant species of dolphins. Dolphins, alongside other cetaceans, belong to the clade Cetartiodactyla with even-toed ungulates. Their closest living relatives are the hippopotamuses, having diverged about 40 million years ago. — Wikipedia

Dolphin (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Cetacean Fact Sheets (American Cetacean Society)

Dolphins (One Zoom)
Dolphin (WolframAlpha)

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Adventures

Explore related posts on Cosma …

Watchable Whales - A popular tourist activity in Boston is whale watching (Trip Advisor). That is because it’s only a short 25 mile trip out to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (Wikipedia). Stellwagen Bank hosts several different species of large whales, including humpbacks, finbacks, minkes, pilot whales and right whales. If you’ve never seen a whale in person, … Continue reading Watchable Whales

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Inspiration

Note: This is a 360° Video — press and hold to explore it!

Wildlife Protection Solutions (YouTube Channel)
Wildlife Protection Solutions (Official Website)

Talks about Dolphins (TED: Ideas Worth Spreading)
Articles about Dolphins (Big Think)

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Innovation

Science

Cetology is the branch of marine mammal science that studies the approximately eighty species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises in the scientific order Cetacea. — Wikipedia

Solidifying the Dolphin Family Tree (Devin Reese, Smithsonian Ocean)

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Preservation

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Participation

Education

Cetacean Curriculum (American Cetacean Society)

MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
OER Commons: Open Educational Resources

Community

Occupation

Cetologists , or those who practice cetology, seek to understand and explain cetacean evolution, distribution, morphology, behavior, community dynamics, and other topics. — Wikipedia

How to Become a Marine Mammal Scientist (The Society for Marine Mammology)

Careers in Mammalogy (American Society of Mammalogists)

Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists (CareerOneStop, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration)

Organization

American Cetacean Society

Society for Marine Mammalogy

American Society of Mammalogists
The Mammal Society

News

Marine Mammal Science (Society for Marine Mammalogy)

Mammal Review (The Mammal Society)
Journal of Mammalogy (American Society of Mammalogists)
Mammalian Species (American Society of Mammalogists)

TERM (EurekaAlert, American Association for the Advancement of Science)
Dolphins (bioRxiv: Preprint Server for Biology, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Dolphins (JSTOR)
Dolphins (Science Daily)
Dolphins (Science News)
Dolphins (Phys.org)
Dolphins (NPR Archives)

Government

Dolphins & Porpoises (Northeast Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries)

US Fish & Wildlife Service

More News …

Dolphins and Whales News -- ScienceDaily Whales and dolphins. Whale songs, beaching, endangered status -- current research news on all cetaceans.

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Related

Here are links to pages about closely related subjects.

Knowledge Realm

Terrestrial (Earth)

Sphere Land, Ice, Water (Ocean), Air, Life (Cell, Gene)
Ecosystem Forest, Grassland, Desert, Arctic, Aquatic

Tree of Life
Microorganism Virus
Prokaryote Archaea, Bacteria
Eukaryote Protist, Fungi, Algae, Protozoa (Tardigrade)
Plant Flower, Tree
Animal
Invertebrate
Cnidaria Coral, Jellyfish
Cephalopod Cuttlefish, Octopus
Crustacean Lobster, Shrimp
Arachnid Spider, Scorpion
Insect Ant, Bee, Beetle, Butterfly
Vertebrate
Fish Seahorse, Ray, Shark
Amphibian Frog, Salamander
Reptile Turtle, Tortoise, Dinosaur
Bird Penguin, Ostrich, Owl, Crow, Parrot
Mammal Platypus, Bat, Mouse, Rabbit, Goat, Giraffe, Camel, Horse, Elephant, Mammoth
Walrus, Seal, Polar Bear, Bear, Panda, Cat, Tiger, Lion, Dog, Wolf
Cetacean Whale, Dolphin
Primate Monkey, Chimpanzee, Human

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Notes

1. The resources on this page are are organized by a classification scheme developed exclusively for Cosma.