Fun Dolphin Facts for Kids

Fun Dolphin Facts for Kids Check out these fun dolphin facts for kids. Learn about different types of dolphins, how they communicate with each other and much more. Read on and enjoy these interesting facts about dolphins.

Compared to other animals, dolphins are believed to be very intelligent. Dolphins are carnivores (meat eaters). The Killer Whale (also known as Orca) is actually a type of dolphin. Bottlenose dolphins are the most common and well known type of dolphin. Female dolphins are called cows, males are called bulls and young dolphins are called calves. Dolphins live in schools or pods of up to 12 individuals. Dolphins often display a playful attitude which makes them popular in human culture. They can be seen jumping out of the water, riding waves, play fighting and occasionally interacting with humans swimming in the water. Dolphins use a blowhole on top of their heads to breathe. Dolphins have excellent eyesight and hearing as well as the ability to use echolocation for finding the exact location of objects. Dolphins communicate with each other by clicking, whistling and other sounds. Some dolphin species face the threat of extinction, often directly as a result of human behavior. The Yangtze River Dolphin is an example of a dolphin species which may have recently become extinct. Some fishing methods, such as the use of nets, kill a large number of dolphins every year. So is a dolphin more like a fish or a whale? Explain why.

Fire Sweeps Tennessee Town

A wildfire leaves widespread devastation in a popular tourist area

ERIK SCHELZIG—AP

Smoke surrounds a home as seen from a National Guard helicopter near Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

A swift-moving wildfire spread to the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, in Tennessee, on Monday. It blazed through the town of Gatlinburg, a popular tourist area. The fire damaged or destroyed at least 150 buildings, including many homes and a 16-story hotel, and left more than a dozen people hospitalized. Three people were killed. On Tuesday, authorities went door to door to check on residents and visitors.

Wildfires had already been spreading for several weeks across the drought-stricken southern United States. Until Monday, they had not destroyed many homes and businesses. The fire in the Gatlinburg area was fueled on Monday night by hurricane-force winds topping 87 miles per hour. They knocked trees into power lines, which started additional fires and shot embers over long distances.

BRIAN BLANCO—GETTY IMAGES

Trevor Cates walks through the smoldering remains of his church, the Banner Missionary Baptist Church, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on November 29.

The flames spread towards neighboring towns, including Pigeon Forge, home to the Dollywood theme park, named after country singer and local hero Dolly Parton. The park was not significantly damaged.

“I have been watching the terrible fires in the Great Smoky Mountains and I am heartbroken,” Parton said in a statement. “I am praying for all the families affected by the fire and the firefighters who are working so hard to keep everyone safe.”

Rapid Response

The speed at which the fires spread caught residents and tourists in the Gatlinburg area by surprise. Police officers went from house to house on Monday, banging on doors and ordering people to leave right away. In all, more than 14,000 people were forced to evacuate. National Guard troops arrived on Tuesday to help combat the flames.

For many residents, the damage was overwhelming. “I’m just astonished this is my town,” Marci Claude said. She is a spokesperson for the Gatlinburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.

On Tuesday, officials said the worst was over, after the winds calmed and rain began to fall in some areas. However, the rainfall is not expected to stop the fires completely, since the bone-dry ground caused by the long drought is expected to soak up the moisture quickly. “Even with the rain that is currently falling there, the fires continue to burn and structures remain engulfed with little hope that the rainfall will being immediate relief,” a representative of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.

Ready to Rebuild

Gatlinburg has a population of 3,944 and attracts more than 11 million visitors each year. The area is considered the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains, the most visited national park in the country. While the town’s mayor, Mike Werner, who lost his own home in the fire, described the damage to Gatlinburg as “devastating,” he said that the community would recover from the experience and rebuild.

“We’re strong. We’re resilient. And we’re going to make it,” Werner said during a news conference on Tuesday. “We’re going to pull it together and continue to make Gatlinburg the premier resort that it is.”

After viewing the damage, Tennessee’s governor, Bill Haslam, called the fire the largest one to happen in the state in 100 years. He pledged that work would begin soon to restore the area that he called “a special place in the state of Tennessee.”

Fire can be a devastating thing. What can we do as the smartest first graders to prevent unwanted and deadly fires?

A Day to Remember

On December 7, the nation will honor the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

DANA EDMUNDS—GETTY IMAGES

Every year, nearly 2 million people visit the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. The memorial sits atop the wreckage of the battleship, which was sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will make a historic visit to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 26. He will become the first sitting Japanese leader to visit the site since it was attacked on December 7, 1941. Japan’s surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor killed more than 2,000, wounded more than 1,000, and pulled the U.S. into World War II. To mark the 75th anniversary of the event, Abe will go to the base with President Barack Obama. In May, Obama visited the Japanese city of Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb towards the end of the war.

YOMIURI SHIMBUN—AP

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces to reporters on Monday that he will visit Pearl Harbor on December 26.

“We must never repeat the horrors of war,” Abe told reporters in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday. “I want to express that determination as we look to the future, and at the same time send a message about the value of U.S.-Japanese reconciliation.”

The Memories Live On

Alfred Rodrigues, 96, still remembers the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was there to see it happen. Rodrigues was a third-class storekeeper with the U.S. Navy on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. He recalls sitting in his barracks while on morning watch. “I was just about to eat my breakfast when we heard explosions from the shipyard,” Rodrigues says. “[The Navy] sounded the alarms, saying ‘Man your battle stations! Man your battle stations! This is not a drill!’”

Rodrigues was handed a rifle and ran outside to help defend the base. He looked up to see the attacking Japanese aircraft. “I started shooting up at the planes,” he says. “They were flying so low, you could see the faces of the pilots.”

The attack began shortly before 8 a.m. and was over within two hours. Japanese bombs and warplanes caused massive damage to the U.S. Naval Fleet, sinking or damaging 19 ships, including two battleships that were totally lost. Nearly 300 airplanes were damaged or destroyed.

The U.S.S. Arizona was one of the battleships that were lost at Pearl Harbor. Dick Girocco, a crew chief for the U.S. Navy, was working in Hangar 54 when he heard explosions and took cover in a nearby trench. He remained there for the entire attack.

“We were in a ditch when the Arizona exploded,” Girocco says. “The concussion (hard blow) from that was so severe that it actually shook the ground like an earthquake.” More than 1,100 servicemen were aboard the Arizona when it sank.

The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress and the American people. He said that December 7 was “a date which will live in infamy.” Infamy is the state of being famous for an evil act. Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war against Japan. He got it—and the U.S. officially entered World War II.

Honoring Veterans

KENT NISHIMURA—GETTY IMAGES

U.S.S. Arizona survivor John Anderson salutes the remembrance wall of the U.S.S. Arizona shrine room during a memorial service on December 7, 2014.

After the war, Pearl Harbor became part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. Other sites that commemorate the attack, and the lives that were lost, are located in Alaska and California. In Hawaii, about 2 million people visit the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial each year.

The Pacific Aviation Museum of Pearl Harbor is another key source of historical information about the attack. It offers tours during which visitors can learn in detail what happened at the base. Shauna Tonkin, the museum’s director of education, says it’s important to look at the event from both sides of the conflict. “These people are humans, and humans make mistakes,” she says. “It’s not healthy to carry grudges across generations.”

Rodrigues agrees. He was born in Hawaii and grew up with many Japanese friends. He says he does not hold any resentment toward the Japanese today. “They were doing what they were told when you are at war,” he says. “Just like I was doing what I was told to do at war.”

Tonkin hopes that on the 75th anniversary people spend the day honoring the men and women who served the country. “There was great sacrifice and courage at Pearl Harbor,” she says. “From it came hope and [eventually] friendship between Japan and the U.S.”

Why do you think it is important to remember this tragic day in American history?