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Dolphin Days #5

Photo by Debra McGuire

 

Finishing up our list of fascinating dolphin facts this week, courtesy of USA Today:

15. Our fetuses look very similar.

While unborn babies of humans and dolphins are in the uterus, they both have a tail, though for humans that is only briefly. Scientists believe these so-called protrusions are a legacy of genetic material from ancestors.

16. Our limbs are similar in bone structure.

There are certain anatomical similarities between humans and dolphins and these include similar bone structure between our ams and the flippers on dolphins. Dolphin flippers have five finger bones, also called phalanges. And like us, they have carpals, radius and humerus bone, the latter of which is similar to a dolphin’s pectoral fin.

17. Our noses have two nostrils.

Even though they live in the ocean, dolphins need to come to the surface to breathe. Dolphins breathe through blowholes that are on top of their bodies. And similar to a human nose, a dolphin’s blowhole is divided into two nostrils. You can chalk up the positioning of a dolphin’s nostrils to evolution.

18. Mothers talk to unborn babies.

Pregnant women are told to talk and sing to their unborn child as a way to bond with the baby. Dolphins do a version of that, too. Scientists say dolphin moms apparently sing to their unborn offspring in the form of a “signature whistle” that the mammals use to identify each other. Once the calves are born, they create their own whistle.

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