• Question: do dolphins have any bones?

    Asked by dara to Charlotte, Jo, Kevin, Louise, Valeria on 12 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by niamhgreene10.
    • Photo: Valeria Senigaglia

      Valeria Senigaglia answered on 12 Jun 2012:

      Yes dolphins have a complete skeleton that overall is very similar to the ours. They also have fingers!!

    • Photo: Charlotte Brassey

      Charlotte Brassey answered on 12 Jun 2012:

      Dolphin bones are really weird compared to terrestrial animals. Because they spend all their time in water, and don’t need to support their body on land, they have very lightweight skeletons. Bone is actually a really costly thing to produce in terms of the energy you spend maintaining your body, so the less you have to produce the better.

      Mammal and bird bone is very dense, and closely packed together. In contrast, dolphin bone is really spongy in texture. It’s kind of like mammals making their bones out of Lego, while dolphins make their bone out of K’nex!

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