Dolphin

Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Realm / Terrestrial / Life /Animal / Mammal / Dolphin
—————————

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)

———————–

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

———————–

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)

———————-

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)

————————–

Preservation

—————————

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.

324-million-year-old fossil reveals how insects...
on August 27, 2026 at 7:22 am
Ancient fossils suggest insects conquered land through a long amphibious phase rather than making an abrupt jump from water to dry ground. A newly identified 324-million-year-old species still carried paddle-like abdominal limbs, revealing an evolutionary bridge between aquatic ancestors and modern six-legged insects.
Forget the sperm race: Fertilization may depend...
on August 6, 2026 at 6:25 am
Millions of sperm do not always compete alone—some species send them into action as coordinated teams. A sweeping evolutionary study found that this cooperation is widespread among arthropods and has repeatedly emerged and vanished over hundreds of millions of years. The discovery challenges the classic “fastest sperm wins” story and could influence future fertility research and pest-control strategies.
Orcas filmed smashing giant sunfish into...
on July 23, 2026 at 1:55 pm
Researchers in the Gulf of California have documented a dramatic orca behavior never described before. In two separate encounters, one orca gripped a dead sunfish by the fin while another charged into it at high speed, blasting the carcass into thousands of pieces.
Scientists found mystery bacteria inside one of...
on July 21, 2026 at 5:10 am
Scientists studying decades of pygmy sperm whale strandings have uncovered three previously unknown types of Helicobacter bacteria hiding in the animals’ stomachs. All four infected whales showed serious digestive damage, including inflammation, ulcers, scarring, and parasite infestations, although the bacteria were not confirmed as the cause of death.
On the brink of extinction, the vaquita gets a...
on June 17, 2026 at 12:01 pm
Scientists have digitally preserved the world’s most endangered marine mammal by creating highly detailed 3D models of a vaquita skeleton using advanced imaging technology. The virtual archive provides an unprecedented look at the species and could help inspire conservation efforts before the tiny porpoise disappears forever.

Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.

Tangled plastic and fishing gear found in pilot...
on August 26, 2026 at 3:20 pm
A new study by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers shows that nearly 23% of short-finned pilot whales that stranded over 13 years in the main Hawaiian Islands ingested several pounds of plastic ropes, netting, fishing gear and plastic bags discarded in the ocean.
Porpoise entanglement recorded in real time,...
on August 25, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Researchers at the University of St Andrews have gained unprecedented insight into marine mammal behavior when they become tangled in fishing nets. In a paper published Aug. 26 in Royal Society Open Science, researchers from the Sea Mammal Research Unit and Scottish Oceans Institute at St Andrews discovered that their passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) systems, deployed on a gill net, had unintentionally recorded a bycatch event. This is thought to be the first time this kind of recording has […]
Sea cucumber breeding clues could help rebuild...
on August 19, 2026 at 1:20 pm
The reproductive life of sea cucumbers has come under the microscope as University of the Sunshine Coast researchers battle overfishing of the marine creatures. Sea cucumbers—which can spawn by wobbling their heads and ejecting reproductive cells—are of particular interest to Center for Bioinnovation Ph.D. student Paul Wright.
'Snooping' on dolphins offers acoustic clues to...
on August 18, 2026 at 2:40 pm
For dolphins, the ocean is a world of sound. Their whistles carry social information, helping them communicate and stay connected, while echolocation—rapid-fire clicks—functions like underwater sonar, helping them navigate their surroundings and detect potential prey.
Whales spark joy in New York but face threats...
on August 18, 2026 at 8:50 am
"WHALE AT ONE O'CLOCK!" Eager cruise passengers zipping around New York's southern shores rush to the starboard bow: A humpback whale is up for air, a breathtaking sighting set against Manhattan's iconic skyline.