Dolphin Coloring Pages

• Bottlenose dolphin: the familiar gray dolphin with a short beak and a curved mouth that looks like a smile
• Spinner dolphin: leaps out of the water and spins several times before it lands
• Orca: black and white, and the largest member of the dolphin family
• Pink river dolphin: lives in the fresh water of the Amazon, and adults can turn pink
• Common dolphin: an hourglass pattern of tan and gray along each side
• Mother and calf: a calf is born tail first and swims close beside its mother
• Dolphin pod: dolphins live and travel in groups called pods

Dolphins are mammals, not fish. They breathe air through a blowhole on top of the head, and mothers feed their calves milk. A dolphin finds food by echolocation: it sends out clicks and listens for the echoes that bounce back. Each dolphin has its own signature whistle, which works a bit like a name. When a dolphin sleeps, only half of its brain rests at a time, so it can keep coming up to breathe.

You can spot the difference from a fish in the tail. A dolphin's tail fins, called flukes, lie flat and beat up and down, while a fish's tail stands upright and swings side to side. For a bottlenose, color the back medium gray, let it fade to light gray on the sides and leave the belly white or pale pink. Press lightly and blend with a white pencil for smooth, wet-looking skin. Add a few curved white lines where the dolphin breaks the surface, and use two or three blues for the sea.