Dolphin or porpoise?
How to tell them apart
A porpoise has flat, spade-shaped teeth and usually no pronounced beak. Dolphins have cone-shaped teeth, and most have a beak.
Quick answers
They give the same 8 quick answers, so in the game it comes down to the clues below.
| Question | Dolphin | Porpoise |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | Mammal | Mammal |
| Carnivore? | Yes | Yes |
| Dangerous? | No | No |
| Domesticated? | No | No |
| Awake when? | Day & night | Day & night |
| Hibernates? | No | No |
| Kept as a pet? | No | No |
| Do people eat it? | In places | In places |
At a glance
| Question | Dolphin | Porpoise |
|---|---|---|
| Found in | Oceans | Oceans |
| Habitat differs | Open ocean, Coast, Rivers & lakes | Coast, Open ocean |
| Size | Large | Large |
| Length differs | 2.3–3.8 m (common bottlenose dolphin) | 1.4 m (vaquita) to 2.3 m (Dall’s porpoise) |
| Weight differs | 260–500 kg (common bottlenose dolphin) | 54 kg (vaquita) to 220 kg (Dall’s porpoise) |
| Legs | None | None |
| Covered in | Skin | Skin |
| Lives | In pods | In pods |
| Lives for differs | 40–60 years | 15–20 years |
| Can fly | No | No |
| Swims | Yes | Yes |
| Lays eggs | No | No |
About each
Dolphin
Around 40 species of toothed whale, from the 1.7 m Maui’s dolphin to the orca, the largest at 9.5 m. Most live in the sea, but a few live in rivers in South Asia and South America.
Everything on the dolphin page
Porpoise
Eight species of small, dolphin-like toothed whales, more closely related to narwhals and belugas than to dolphins. They have spade-shaped teeth and no pronounced beak.
Everything on the porpoise page
Sources
Last reviewed . The answers and notes come from each animal's own page, where every source is listed.
How each answer is decided: How we answer. More look-alikes: Side by side.