Dolphins are cetacean mammals of the family Delphinidae.

They usually live for

more than 30 years and measure about 3.5 meters long.

Dolphins are very intelligent animals; some studies have shown that dolphins are
very social animals. They live in groups of 5 to 10 individuals. Dolphins
communicate using a list of clicks and whistles; normally, dolphins use clicks to
echolocate their prey. They can produce more than 1000 clicks per second, those
clicks travel until they find an object, then they return to the dolphin, and let it know
the distance and.

Dolphins are marine mammals, which means that, although they have lungs, they
do not breathe like land mammals. Unlike them, they must remember to come to
the surface to breathe. Dolphins breathe through a blowhole that they open when
they are at the surface and close when they dive. They only need half a second to
exhale all the air they need.
Dolphins can stay underwater for 10 to 15 minutes. When dolphins dive, they divide
their lungs into 2 parts. The lower part is compressed, and the upper part stores the
air that the dolphin stored before.

Dolphins reach sexual maturity at 11 years old. They can have sex all year round
but prefer to do it when the water is warmer. Females, once fertilized, take 12
months until the baby is born, the fetus is covered by a placenta that nourishes it
during the whole embryonic development. During the embryonic development the
female eats more than usual, while she is pregnant, the other members of the
group will protect her and will also be the ones to bring her food.
At the time of birth the dolphin is helped by other individuals of the group. Usually
only one baby is born, but sometimes two babies are born. First the dolphin tail
comes out, then the mother pushes it out so that the baby is born.