Hector’s Dolphin Facts & Worksheets

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Dolphins are fascinating creatures that are known for being extremely friendly and intelligent. The Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) is the world’s smallest marine dolphin. It is native to New Zealand, and due to population decline, it has become extremely difficult to spot.

See the fact file below for more information on Hector’s Dolphin, or you can download our 22-page Hector’s Dophin worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

The Tiniest Dolphin

• The White-headed Dolphin is another name for Hector’s Dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori). The most well-known of the four dolphins in the genus Cephalorhynchus is Hector’s dolphin.
• Hector’s newborn dolphins are tiny — they resemble rugby balls with flippers. Their markings are the same as adults, except they are a darker grey in general. Babies are fed their mothers’ milk while learning to catch their food. Youngsters can stay with their mothers for up to two years.
• Maui’s Dolphin is a subspecies of Hector’s Dolphin found off the northwest coast of New Zealand’s North Island; both dolphins are indigenous to this island.
• Sir James Hector sparked the idea of Hector’s dolphin. He was the curator of the Colonial Museum in Wellington (now known as Te Papa, the New Zealand Museum). He inspected the first dolphin specimen he discovered. He lived between 1834 and 1907 and was the most powerful New Zealand scientist of his generation.

Biological Facts

• Hector’s dolphins are among the world’s tiniest dolphins.
• The dorsal fin of Hector’s dolphins is rounded and resembles one of Mickey Mouse’s ears. They resemble Māui dolphins in appearance.
• Hector’s dolphins have gray bodies with black and white patterns. Beautiful black, white, and gray markings cover their bodies, with white bellies and throats and dramatic black tails. They have a striking black eye mask on their heads that extends to their black, rounded flippers.
• The short, thick snout of common bottlenose dolphins gives them their name (or rostrum). They can be light gray to almost black on top, near their dorsal fin, and light gray to practically white on their belly. Their snout is not bottle-shaped. Their forehead slopes down to the tip, unlike the bottlenose dolphin’s, which results in a projecting beak. They would not be able to kill sharks because they don’t have a long snout. 
• Hector’s dolphins, like other delphinid species, are slow swimmers who use a wave-like movement or an undulating motion while swimming. 
• Their tiny lungs are practically the dimensions of human lungs, limiting the dolphin’s ability to dive for quite three minutes at a time. They are conscious sleepers, which means they never fall entirely asleep; this is to control the appropriate amount of oxygen so they don’t drown.
• When swimming near boats, these creatures frequently stick close to one another, indicating stress.
• Hector’s dolphin is a warm-blooded aquatic mammal that breathes air, gives birth to live young, and produces milk.
• Hector’s dolphin is one of about 80 recognized cetacean species and one of about 40 recognized dolphin species.
• This marine mammal, along with Maui’s dolphin, is one of the tiniest species of cetacea ever reported. Some scholars believe this is the tiniest cetacean, while others believe Maui’s dolphin is the smallest. Hector’s dolphins differ from other dolphin species in that they do not use whistles, instead releasing short, high-frequency clicks.
• A 38-kilogram Hector’s dolphin’s brain weighs 640 grams. This equates to 1.7 percent of its total body weight, one of the highest levels in the animal kingdom. However, it is unclear how much a large brain implies high intelligence.
• Compared to the common bottlenose dolphin, which can grow to be fairly enormous, weighing up to 1400 pounds (640 kg) and measuring up to 12.5 feet (4 meters), they have a reasonably lengthy lifespan (40–50 years) and reach sexual maturity between the ages of 5 and 14. An adult Hector’s dolphin weighs between 88 and 132 pounds (40 and 60 kg), making it about the size of a giant toddler. 
• The male dolphin is smaller than the female. The weight of a newborn calf is between 17 and 22 pounds (8–10 kg). Hector’s dolphins have a modest reproduction rate and a relatively short lifespan of 20 to 25 years.

Internal Anatomy

• Hector’s dolphins are vertebrates, meaning they have a backbone. This species contains approximately 25 internal components.
• The dolphin’s teeth serve it well in eating fish, squid, and other sea creatures. Its chasing and belly displays make reproduction simple. The fat, pelvis, and blowhole are just three characteristics that distinguish Hector’s dolphins from other organisms.

External Anatomy

Scientific Classification

Hector’s dolphin subspecies

• The Maui’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori maui) is a subspecies of New Zealand’s sole endemic cetacean, the Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori).
• Maui dolphins are one of the world’s rarest and smallest dolphin subspecies, located on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. 
• Since Hector’s and Maui dolphins have a similar appearance, genetic research has been conducted. Only markers can determine the subspecies an individual belongs to.

Hector’sDolphin Habitat

• The Hector’s dolphin lives in New Zealand’s inshore and coastal seas. Hector’s dolphins are the sole native cetaceans of New Zealand. 
• Dolphin populations (mainly Hector’s) are highly fragmented. Akaroa Harbour is home to most dolphins. As it is warmer and simpler to obtain small items to eat, they are frequently seen inshore.
• Populations are concentrated in Haast and Farewell Spit in the west; the Banks Peninsula marine mammal sanctuary in the east; Te Waewae Bay; and Porpoise Bay in the south. There are Hector’s dolphins on the north and south islands, as well as those on the west coast.

Reproduction

• The animals practice close contact, leaping chases, and belly shows during courtship. During the austral summer, the breeding season takes place. Hector’s dolphins have a meager reproduction rate, only about 2 annually. They only have up to 7 offspring at a time, and only breed 2-4 times a year. 
• The female does not reproduce during this time. Non-breeding conspecifics are reported to disperse from females and their offspring, forming calf-cow groupings. Males reach sexual maturity at the age of 5-9 years, while females reach sexual maturity at 7-9 years. They’re polygamous, with both males and females mating with multiple mates.

Diet & Predation

• Hector’s dolphins are carnivores (piscivores) and typically feed in groups of five to eight. They utilize echolocation to find prey in the shallow, murky coastal waters where they live. They aren’t picky about what they consume, and hunt based on prey size rather than species. They eat small prey and stay away from spiky ones. Red cod, flounder, crabs, kahawai, mackerel, sardines, anchovies, and other schooling fish, flatfish, New Zealand sprat, arrow squid, and stargazer juveniles are common prey for Hector’s dolphins.
• Their inshore and offshore movements are dictated by prey movement. The great white shark, killer whales or orcas, mako sharks, bronze whaler sharks, sevengill sharks, and blue sharks are the primary predators of Hector’s dolphins.
• The sevengill shark has a single tiny dorsal fin positioned far back over its pelvic fins. Their lower jaw teeth are broad, massive, and comb-shaped, utilized to rip and cut prey. Mako sharks are another common gray shark. They don’t have any elaborate skin patterns, but make up for this with a missile-shaped body.
• A killer whale’s body form is approximately cylindrical, with tapering at both ends. Swimming with this distinctive fusiform shape saves a lot of energy. Bronze whaler sharks are known as copper sharks. They are huge sharks with a long, rounded snout and a hump at the base of the upper caudal fin.

Behavior

• Hector’s dolphins usually congregate in tiny groups of two to ten animals (group name: pod, herd, and school), which periodically join together to form larger transitory groups. Individuals rarely spend more than a few days with each other. They are considered lively and playful animals who like bow-riding and playing with seaweed.
• In comparison to other dolphin species, they are slow swimmers. These diurnal creatures spend most of their lives in one exact location. During the summer, they prefer to stay close to the coast. In the winter, they migrate away from the shore, and in spring, they return to the coast where they spent the previous summer.
• Hector’s dolphins spend much of their time swimming around the shore, occasionally coming to the surface to breathe, diving to forage, and playing. They’re often seen leaping out of the water and landing with a loud splash on their side. They can also swim on their sides and stretch their bodies at the surface. These dolphins typically splash water with their tails, chase, bite, or blow bubbles to demonstrate aggression.

Hector’s Dolphin Communication

• Echolocation is their primary means of communication, also used to find food, terrain, and mates. The clicks bounce off the body or object, allowing the dolphin to locate the target and its surroundings. These sounds are also Hector’s dolphin expressing emotions at times.
• Since Hector’s dolphins’ eyesight is just slightly better than that of humans, they rely on echolocation to estimate distances, find prey, and determine how fast it is moving—it’s like seeing with sound. They do this by emitting high-frequency clicking noises, which bounce back when they strike an object, allowing the dolphin to determine what it is by listening. Their echolocation is frequently ‘switched off’ in familiar settings, which means they cannot always identify risks.

Threats & Conservation

• The most severe threat to Maui and Hector’s dolphins is fishing. Trawl, drift, and set nets are almost certain to entangle them. Even when employing echolocation, the dolphins cannot identify the traps (similar to sonar). 
• Because nets are soft and flexible, they do not reflect noises to the dolphin, allowing it to “see” hard chunks of prey or solid objects such as stones.
• Other reasons why Hector’s dolphins are endangered: 
  • Boat collisions are common.
  • Contamination of their habitat with chemicals created by people, which build up in the dolphin’s body and cause health problems and lower reproductive rates.
  • Habitat loss due to coastal development.
  • Boats transporting visitors causing disturbance. The impact of this situation is still being assessed.

• Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, New Zealand established a marine mammal sanctuary in 1988, intending to conserve them. Although dolphin deaths have decreased since then, their populations have not recovered. New Zealand’s Ministry of Fisheries and Department of Conservation have been planning to increase conservation measures since 2008, but nothing has happened yet.
• You may help Hector’s dolphin conservation efforts by doing the following:
  • When visiting New Zealand, advise tourists and visitors to avoid non-selective fishing.
  • Limit your usage of plastic – this waste ends up in the ocean and contributes to the deaths of these dolphins.

Fun Facts About Hector’s Dolphin

• A mouth-breathing dolphin: Stephen Dawson and his team of University of Otago academics first noticed this peculiar behavior off New Zealand’s Banks Peninsula in 2014. A Hector’s dolphin, distinguished by a small “tattoo” lesion near its blowhole, would protrude from the water at a sharp angle, its lips extended as if gulping air.
• Scientists believe that in mouth-breathing dolphins, the larynx disconnects from its regular course at the epiglottic spout and instead generates a mouth opening. Stephen Dawson’s illustration of a marine biologist at the University of Otago in New Zealand was used as inspiration.

Hector’s Dolphin Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Hector’s Dolphin across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about Hector’s Dolphin, which is the world’s smallest marine dolphin and native to New Zealand.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

• Hector’s Dolphin Facts 
• Unique Physique
• Text Twist
• Dare to Compare
• Pool of Words
• Way of Life
• Noughts and Crosses
• Take a Fish-ture
• Prey-dator!
• The More You Know
• Speak Up!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is special about Hector’s dolphin?

The world’s smallest and rarest dolphin is the Hector’s dolphin, which has a maximum length of only approximately five feet and distinct black facial markings. Their bodies are short and stocky, with a maximum length of just over five feet. Their dorsal fin resembles a Mickey Mouse ear in particular.

How did Hector’s dolphins get their name?

The Hector’s dolphin was named after Sir James Hector, who was a scientist and the curator of the first Colonial Museum in Wellington. James Hector was the first to examine a dolphin up close.

Why is Hector’s dolphin endangered?

Hector’s Dolphin is endangered because humans fish near their habitat which harms them. These types of dolphins are extremely endangered and need help right now with an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 left in the wild.

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