Free printable reading comprehension chapter book with online interactive questions. Recommended level: 3rd Grade and up
If Dolphins Could Talk:
Finn's Story
Chapter 1 - Me and My Pod
My name is Finn. I am a four-year-old Bottlenose dolphin.
I live in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of southern Florida. I live with my close family and friends. The 12 of us form a group called a pod.
Bottlenose dolphins are the most common kind of dolphins. I have relatives all over the world. It’s a little too cold for us in the Arctic and Antarctic, but you can find us pretty much anywhere else where the ocean waters are warm.
Most of my relatives have lived around the Florida coast for years. Every now and then, some of them like to go off and explore the world. They end up in faraway places like the Indian Ocean or South China Sea.
My mother and I are very close. Most dolphins stay with their mothers until they are at least 4 years old. I’m not quite ready to go off on my own yet, so I think I’ll stick around for a while. My mother protects me and helps me catch fish.
My mother's mother is also in our pod. She is 25 years old, which is old for a dolphin. Most Bottlenose dolphins don't make it to 20, but I've heard of some that have lived up to the age of 50. Now that's old!
My family is very friendly. We love to be around other dolphins. We play together, catch fish and protect each other. Sometimes we group together in a "superpod" if we find a huge food source or get into big trouble. I’ve never been in a superpod larger than 100, but I hear that there have been some as big as 1,000. No one knows the reason for such a big superpod, not even the scientists who study us.
Why did the dolphin cross the road? To get to the other tide!
How old is Finn?/2 years/4 years/25 years/4 years
A group of dolphins that live together is called a/pod/colony/flock/pod
Pods of dolphins that group together are called /herds/schools/superpods/superpods
Bottlenose dolphins are found in the Arctic Ocean./True/False/It doesn't say in the story./False
Most dolphins leave their mother by the age of 2./True/False/It doesn't say in the story./False
How many dolphins are in Finn's pod?/12/25/100/12
How long do Bottlenose dolphins usually live?/15-20 years/25-30 years/45-50 years/15-20 years
How old is Finn's grandmother?/20/25/50/25
Where does Finn the dolphin live?/Gulf of Mexico/Indian Ocean/South China Sea/Gulf of Mexico
Why do dolphins form superpods?/to protect themselves/to share food sources/Both are true./Both are true.
Why do dolphins form really large superpods?/to protect themselves/No one knows./to play/No one knows.
Chapter 2 - I'm a Mammal, Not a Fish
I have something in common with you. We are both mammals.
I may live in the water and swim like a fish, but I need air to breathe. To do this, I come up to the surface of the water and use a "blowhole" at the top of my head to get air. I can hold my breath for 10 minutes before I need to return to the surface for more air.
We may both be mammals, but I look nothing like you. Bottlenose dolphins have smooth rubbery gray skin with a lighter colored belly.
I didn’t start out that way. A baby dolphin, which is called a calf, is born dark gray and lightens up as it grows. You may laugh to hear that a dolphin calf has a beard. I was born with hairs all around my mouth, but they fell out after a few days.
Compared to you, I was a huge baby. I weighed 35 pounds when I was born. By the time I'm full-grown at age 12, I could weigh as much as 600 pounds and be 10 feet long. The biggest dolphin in our pod weighs 1,000 pounds. But that’s nothing compared to the Orca whale, also in the Dolphin family, that weighs more than 10,000 pounds!
I have three fins. The fins on my side that look like arms are flippers. They help me steer.
The dorsal fin on my back is very special. It is almost like a human fingerprint. Every dorsal fin has different marks on it that are unlike any other dolphin. Scientists who study us can tell us apart by looking at our dorsal fins.
My tail is made up of two flukes that push me through the water so I can swim really fast.
My teeth are also very different from yours. We only get one set and there are a lot of them - 75 to 100! We don’t use our teeth to chew. We use them only to catch food, which we then swallow whole.
What did the baby dolphin do when he was upset? He whale-d!
A dolphin is a/fish/mammal/reptile/mammal
About how long can a dolphin hold its breath?/10 minutes/30 minutes/one hour/10 minutes
A newborn dolphin starts off dark gray and grows lighter./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
Orca whales are a type of dolphin./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
A baby dolphin is called a/calf/cub/minnow/calf
By what age are most dolphins full-grown?/5/8/12/12
About how many pounds does a full-grown Bottlenose dolphin weigh?/600/5,000/10,000/600
Newborn dolphins weigh a lot more than newborn humans./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
How many fins does a dolphin have?/2/3/4/3
A dolphin's tail is made up of 2/fins/flukes/wings/flukes
Flukes help dolphins/breathe/eat/swim fast/swim fast
Flippers help dolphins/breathe/chew/steer/steer
Every dolphin dorsal fin is exactly the same./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./False
Dolphins lose their baby teeth just like humans./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./False
Dolphins swallow their food without chewing it./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
How do dolphins breathe?/through a blowhole/through their fins/through their mouths/through a blowhole
Chapter 3 - My Daily Life
I spend a lot of my day playing and eating. You might think that sounds perfect, but it’s not all fun and games.
It takes a lot of work to hunt and catch our food. We eat a lot. An adult dolphin needs almost 25 pounds of food each day. That’s a lot of fish, squid and shrimp!
We usually hunt in groups. We chase fish to sandbars and then catch them with our teeth. If I'm lucky, I can catch a fish as it leaps out of the water. It goes right into my mouth and then down to my stomach. No chewing required.
We have really great eyesight and hearing to help us get around. When we are underwater, we use "echolocation". Echolocation is a special kind of hearing that tells us exactly where everything is in the water, even when the water is dark or cloudy.
Dolphins love to have fun. When we’re not hunting for food, we swim around, ride the waves and play with each other. My favorite game is to play catch with seaweed. It’s really fun.
We communicate with each other all the time by clicks, whistles and other sounds.
Every dolphin has its own special whistle, almost like having a name.
After a hard day at work and play, I need my rest. I have a very strange way of sleeping. I only let half my brain sleep at a time. While one half sleeps, the other half stays awake to make sure that I breathe and don’t drown. It’s like I'm sleeping with one eye open.
What did Cinderella Dolphin lose at the ball? Her glass flipper!
How many pounds of food does an adult dolphin eat in a day?/5/10/25/25
Dolphins hunt for fish by themselves./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./False
Dolphins chew their food before swallowing./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./False
What do dolphins like to eat?/fish/seaweed/string/fish
What do dolphins use to find things underwater?/eyesight/echolocation/sense of smell/echolocation
What is Finn's favorite game?/hide and seek/playing catch with seaweed/chasing fish/playing catch with seaweed
How do dolphins communicate with each other?/by their smell/by their tail movements/with sounds like clicks and whistles/with sounds like clicks and whistles
How do dolphins sleep?/They float./They rest on shore at night./Half their brain stays awake./Half their brain stays awake.
Chapter 4 - I'm Very Smart
I may not be as smart as you are, but I am proud to say that I am one of the smartest animals on earth. I have a good memory. I can communicate. Best of all, I can learn.
Just like humans, dolphins have a language of their own. I'm getting better and better at recognizing and understanding all the different sounds that other dolphins make.
As I get older, my memory gets better too. My mother is amazing at remembering the special whistle of every dolphin she has ever known - even ones she hasn't seen for years and years. I hope that someday I'll be able to do that too.
Scientists are very impressed with how we can learn. Humans train us to understand their language and body signals and to perform awesome tricks.
The US navy once trained a dolphin to make deliveries to scientists in an underwater lab. The dolphin was their mail carrier!
Another sign that I'm pretty smart? I figured out that if I put a sea sponge on my nose, I can dig for food in the coral reefs without getting scraped.
Something very special about dolphins is that we have feelings. Just like you, I can feel joy and sadness. When a member of our pod dies, we all feel sad for a long time.
I may look like I'm smiling all the time, but don't be fooled. It's just the shape of my mouth. It looks that way whether I'm scared or mad, happy or sad.
A dolphin's memory gets better with age./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
When a dolphin leaves its pod, the other dolphins forget its whistle./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./False
When a dolphin dies, its pod is sad for a long time./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
A dolphin's smile shows that it is always happy./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./False
Which of these is the best sign that dolphins are smart./They breathe air./They can learn./They can swim fast./They can learn.
What did the Navy train a dolphin to do?/salute with its flipper/play ball/deliver things to an underwater lab/deliver things to an underwater lab
Why does a dolphin put a sea sponge on its nose?/to avoid scrapes from the coral/to clean its flippers/to attract fish/to avoid scrapes from the coral
Chapter 5 - My Life With Humans
I live in the ocean and have never been near a human. That’s not the story for some of my relatives who live in aquariums and protected bays. They rely on humans to survive.
Some dolphins have a good life with humans. I’m not sure I would like it. It’s a very different life than I have.
Some of my aquarium relatives live in pretty small tanks. How do they have enough space to move around? I often travel 100 miles a day. I'd be very bored doing that in a tank.
I have also heard that dolphins taken from the ocean can become sad and depressed because they miss their family and friends. I know I would.
I think humans love us because we are very playful and smart. We entertain people by performing tricks. With special training, we can give people comfort by allowing them to swim with us, touch us and and even kiss us.
Dolphins like people and people like dolphins. That makes it hard for me to understand why humans cause us so many problems.
A big problem for us is getting caught in fishing nets. We sometimes like to swim with schools of fish. We really have to watch out for those big tuna nets. Once trapped, it's impossible to escape.
An even bigger problem is pollution. It’s hard to believe how much trash I see floating in the ocean. Some of my relatives have died because they swallow plastic bags and other garbage that looks like food.
All the plastic and chemicals in the water can make us sick. In some areas of the world, it’s getting so bad that whole pods of dolphins are dying off. Next time you see someone leaving trash in the ocean or on a beach, please think of me and my pod.
How many miles does Finn often travel in a day?/no more than 10/100/1000/100
Dolphins in protected bays rely on humans to survive./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
Finn sometimes swims with humans./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./False
Dolphins need to be trained to swim with people./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
Dolphins find it easy to escape from a tuna net./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./False
What would Finn not like about living in an aquarium?/being away from family/not enough space to move around/Both are true./Both are true.
Why do dolphins swallow plastic bags?/They taste good./They look like food./No one knows./They look like food.
Which of these makes dolphins sick?/chemicals in the ocean/seaweed/tuna/chemicals in the ocean
Why did the dolphin cross the road?
Connecting Words Aquarium
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