h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Looking at the taxanomic identification of the organisms I'm slightly confused by the matter. Both are the order of the Cetacea which is fair enough. However the family 'Delphinidae' belongs to the suborder 'Odontoceti' which are the toothed whales. Further confusion arises when Globicephala (pilot whales) and Orcinus (killer whales) genuses belong to the Delphinidae family.

I'm happy with the Blue Whales and the rest of the toothless whales however it turns out the Chinese river dolphin species aren't actually dolphins and neither are red dolphins.

So I ask what actually is a dolphin? And is it a form of discrimination that there is some misidentity? Do the dolphins care?

Traveller in Time not confused
"Dolphins are whales, but not all whales are dolphins.

Wonder where the Sperm Whale belongs ? (toothed whale but definitely not like Orca or for example Spinner Dolphin)."

This might help answer the question A17436170

Hello ST.
.
"Do the dolphins care?" Well clearly no since the names we give them are literally man made.
Unless someone is doing a deeply scientific course or article perhaps the enjoyment of wildlife should be more important than the label.
I was watching a wildlife programme yesterday and there was a long standing female birdwatcher and she said she feels woman spend more time simply enjoying the habits of birds and watching how they go about their daily life, while men are more likely to be Twitchers and more concerned about naming birds and being competitive and seeing as many differant types possible.
She was right really as while it is nice to know names of wildlife it is more important to actually watch them and get enjoyment from what they do , and who can not smile at squirells simply playing with twigs just for fun!

>> Wonder where the Sperm Whale belongs ? (toothed whale but definitely not like Orca or for example Spinner Dolphin). <<

Sperm whales are toothed whales. They are the largest toothed whale, in fact.

RF

Traveller in Time still with the same line
"As also the entry does not say: are sperm whales dolphins ? "

Sperm whales are from the family Physeteridae or the 'Sperm whale' family.

Basically I can live with what Mr. Time said in the second post. Although I think some renaming is in on the cards. More Killer Dolphins and Melon-Headed Dolphins could survive the tuna catching process unless they started adding 'toothed whale' friendly stickers on the side of tins, anyway I digress.