Risso's dolphin
Amazing fact
Risso's dolphins can send sonar clicks into the water with much of their forehead above the surface.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Risso's dolphins can send sonar clicks into the water with much of their forehead above the surface.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Risso's dolphin
- Scientific name
- Grampus griseus
- Japanese name
- ハナゴンドウ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Delphinidae
- Genus
- Grampus
Where the name “Risso's dolphin” comes from
The scientific name griseus is Latin for gray.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebA member of the dolphin family that lives in temperate to tropical seas around the world, out in the open ocean.
Its head is round, with no clear beak. Its body is covered with many scratch marks, and it becomes whiter as it gets older.
It feeds at night, when its main prey, squid and their relatives, come up toward the surface.
How the Risso's dolphin lives
They use echoes to find where objects are and how far away they are. They sometimes follow prey into shallow waters along the continental shelf. A female can leave her calf with other females in the group while she searches for food. They sometimes slap their pectoral flippers or tails on the surface.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebNOAA FisheriesBasic data
- Size
- 3–4 m国立科学博物館 海棲哺乳類データベース
- Weight
- 300–600 kg国立科学博物館 海棲哺乳類データベース
- Active
- By day and by nightUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Range
- Temperate, subtropical, and tropical ocean watersUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
Where the Risso's dolphin has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ハナゴンドウ
- 简体中文
- 里氏海豚
- 繁體中文
- 瑞氏海豚
- 한국어
- 큰코돌고래
- Español
- Calderón gris
- Français
- Dauphin de Risso
- Deutsch
- Rundkopfdelfin
- Português (Brasil)
- Golfinho-de-risso
- Italiano
- Grampo
- العربية
- دلفين ريسو
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Lumba-lumba Risso
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá heo Risso
- Русский
- Серый дельфин
- Türkçe
- Boz yunus
- ไทย
- โลมาริสโซ
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 国立科学博物館 海棲哺乳類データベース — ハナゴンドウChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Grampus griseusChecked: 2026-11-03
- NOAA Fisheries — Risso’s DolphinChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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