Dolphin Riddles: 30 Splashy Riddles with Answers for Kids on Riddlepedia
Animals

Dolphin Riddles: 30 Splashy Riddles with Answers for Kids

30 riddles · tap Hint or Answer to reveal

by

Dolphins look like fish, swim like fish and live with fish, but they aren’t fish at all. They’re mammals, like us. They breathe air through a hole on top of their head, feed their babies milk and call each other by something very close to a name. They can even “see” with sound.

These 30 dolphin riddles mix true dolphin facts with a few ocean jokes. The easy round covers dolphin bodies and families, the medium round dives into how dolphins hunt and talk, and the tricky round has the facts that surprise grown-ups, like which land animal is a dolphin’s closest living relative. Every fact in the answers is true.

Easy Dolphin Riddles

I’m smooth and gray, I love to leap out of the waves, and I seem to wear a smile on my face. I’m not a fish, though. What am I?

Hint
I’m a smart ocean animal that swims in groups and whistles.
Answer
A dolphin

I’m a hole on top of a dolphin’s head. The dolphin breathes through me, not through its mouth. What am I?

Hint
When the dolphin breathes out, a puff of spray shoots out of me.
Answer
The blowhole

Dolphins swim, hunt and play together in a group. What is a group of dolphins called?

Hint
Peas come in one of these too.
Answer
A pod

I’m a baby dolphin. I swim right next to my mom and drink her milk. What am I called?

Hint
Baby cows and baby elephants share my name.
Answer
A calf

Dolphins live in the water, but they have to come up to the surface to get me. What am I?

Hint
You’re breathing it right now.
Answer
Air. Dolphins hold their breath when they dive.

Dolphins breathe air, have babies that drink milk and are warm-blooded. So what kind of animal are they?

Hint
Dogs, horses and people are this kind of animal too.
Answer
A mammal

I’m the curved fin on a dolphin’s back. When a dolphin swims near the surface, I’m the part you see sticking out of the water. What am I?

Hint
My name starts with a word that means “on the back.”
Answer
The dorsal fin

A dolphin’s tail has two wide parts that move up and down to push it through the water. What are they called?

Hint
My name also means a lucky shot.
Answer
Flukes. A fish’s tail moves side to side, but a dolphin’s tail moves up and down.

Dolphins eat lots of me. I’m slippery, I have scales, and I swim in big schools. What am I?

Hint
I’m what a dolphin is often mistaken for.
Answer
Fish. Dolphins also eat squid.

Why did the dolphin cross the beach?

Hint
Think about what the ocean does twice a day.
Answer
To get to the other tide.

Medium Dolphin Riddles

I make clicking sounds and listen for the echoes that bounce back. That’s how I find fish, even in dark or muddy water. What is this skill called?

Hint
Bats use it too.
Answer
Echolocation

Each dolphin makes its very own whistle, and other dolphins use it to call that dolphin, almost like a name. What is this sound called?

Hint
Like your name written at the bottom of a letter.
Answer
A signature whistle

I’m the most famous kind of dolphin, the one most people picture. My name comes from my short, round snout. What am I?

Hint
My snout is said to look like the neck of an old-fashioned bottle.
Answer
A bottlenose dolphin

I look a lot like a dolphin, but I’m smaller, my snout is round with no beak, and my teeth are flat like little spades. What am I?

Hint
My name sounds like the word for “the reason you did something.”
Answer
A porpoise

The long snout at the front of many dolphins’ faces has the same name as a bird’s mouth. What is it called?

Hint
A toucan has a big one.
Answer
The beak (scientists call it the rostrum)

A dolphin’s rounded forehead is full of fat. It helps focus the clicks the dolphin sends out. It shares its name with a big, juicy fruit. What is it?

Hint
Cantaloupe is one kind.
Answer
The melon

Dolphins have lots of cone-shaped teeth, but they don’t chew. What do they do with a fish?

Hint
Think about how you take a pill.
Answer
They swallow it whole, usually headfirst.

I’m a dolphin that lives in a river in South America, not in the ocean. Many of us turn bright pink as we grow up. What am I?

Hint
My river runs through the biggest rainforest in the world.
Answer
The Amazon river dolphin (also called the pink river dolphin, or boto)

Dolphins love to swim right in front of a moving boat, riding the wave it pushes along. What is this called?

Hint
The front of a boat is called the bow.
Answer
Bow riding

A pod of dolphins swims around a big school of fish and pushes them into a tight, spinning ball. Then they take turns diving through it to eat. What is the ball called?

Hint
Fishers put this on a hook.
Answer
A bait ball

Tricky Dolphin Riddles

I’m black and white, I can grow longer than a car, and people call me a whale. But I’m really the largest dolphin in the world. What am I?

Hint
My other name makes me sound scary.
Answer
An orca (also called a killer whale)

A dolphin has to remember to breathe, even while it rests. So how does it sleep without drowning?

Hint
It never fully switches off.
Answer
It rests one half of its brain at a time. The other half stays awake to keep it breathing, often with one eye open.

Which big land animal is the closest living relative of dolphins and whales?

Hint
It loves to wallow in African rivers.
Answer
The hippopotamus. Whales, dolphins and hippos share an ancestor that lived on land.

Some bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, wear a soft “glove” on their beak while they dig in the rough sea floor for food. What do they use?

Hint
You might use one to wash dishes.
Answer
A sea sponge. It’s one of the few known cases of tool use by dolphins.

Most mammals are born headfirst. Baby dolphins are usually born the other way around. How?

Hint
Think about which end is last to come out of the water.
Answer
Tail first. That helps keep the calf from breathing in water while it’s being born.

Dolphins live in salty water but can’t drink it. Where do they get most of the water their bodies need?

Hint
Think about what’s in their lunch.
Answer
From the food they eat

X-ray a dolphin’s flipper and you’ll find bones laid out a lot like the bones in one part of your body. Which part?

Hint
You have five fingers on it.
Answer
Your hand. Dolphins’ flippers have finger bones inside, a clue that their ancestors walked on land.

I’m a thick layer of fat under a dolphin’s skin. I keep it warm in cold water and store energy for later. What am I?

Hint
Seals and whales have me too.
Answer
Blubber

A dolphin lifts its head straight up out of the water, as if peeking around to look at the world above. What is this called?

Hint
It sounds like a secret agent jumping up and down.
Answer
Spyhopping

A mother dolphin feeds her calf this, just like a human mom or a cow does. What is it?

Hint
It’s white, and you might pour it on cereal.
Answer
Milk. Calves drink it for a year or more.

Dolphin Riddle Games for Kids

  • Echo, echo: one player is the “dolphin” with eyes closed. The others stand around the room. The dolphin says “click” and points, and whoever is pointed at answers a riddle. A right answer earns the next turn as the dolphin.
  • Pod relay: split into pods, and give each pod a name whistle. Read a riddle, then blow one pod’s whistle (or clap their rhythm). That pod gets the first try.
  • Dolphin or not? For the tricky round, kids guess first whether each surprising fact is true or a joke. Then read the answer. Every fact here is true.
  • Draw a dolphin: after the easy round, have kids draw a dolphin and label the blowhole, dorsal fin, flippers, flukes and beak.

Want more animal riddles? Try our mermaid riddles, these bat riddles (bats use echolocation too) or our elephant riddles.