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Do whales and dolphins have hair?

Since cetaceans are mammals, they have hair at some point in their life! dolphins are no exception. Dolphins have a few whiskers around their snout in the womb and when they are first born but they soon lose them.

Dolphins have a few whiskers around their snout in the womb and when they are first born, however they soon lose them later in life.

Amazon River dolphins (botos) keep these hairs into adulthood - they are sensory hairs and thought to help them search for prey on the river bed along with echolocation. The water they live in is very murky so eyesight has only limited use.

The bumps on humpback whales’ head, mouth and even on their flippers are called tubercles. Those raised surfaces are actually hair follicles where a single hair grows. Similar to like a whisker, it helps the whales be able to sense their environment.

credit: WDC North America

Amazing facts about whales and dolphins

Dive deeper into the world of whales and dolphins and learn more about their lives.

A humpback whale pokes its head partway out of the water, a behavior called spyhopping

Facts about whales

Amazing facts about whales, the largest mammals to live on Earth.

two dolphins diving down out of the water

Facts about dolphins

From the orca to the tiny vaquita, learn more about these creatures.

Northern Resident orca, Fife, swimming at the surface

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Breaching North Atlantic right whale

Brain power

Just how intelligent are whales and dolphins?

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Humpback whale spyhop

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Bottlenose dolphin calf breaching with its whole body out of the water

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Breaching North Atlantic right whale

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Orca spyhop

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