Dolphins are the most intelligent of sea creatures. They understand commands very well and know how to obey them. Their bodies have been created according to a marvelous design. We always see dolphins at the surface of the water. But they spend most of their lives in the deep. In places where it is very difficult for them to see each other and to find food.

But dolphins can see better in the deep darkness of the sea than we can in the light.

So, how can dolphins do this? God created dolphins with a complex system that allows them to find their direction by sensing sound waves Scientists call this system “echolocation. To find out how dolphins do this we have to look closely at their heads.

A dolphin breathes through its blowhole, located at the top of its head. Just below the blowhole, there are little sacs filled with air. By making air pass through these sacs, they emit high-pitched sounds. The air sacs act as an acoustical mirror, focusing sound produced by small knobs of fatty tissue just beneath the blowhole.

And later, these “clicking” echolocation sounds are sent out at brief intervals into the surrounding area. Clicks emitted by dolphins immediately echo back when they hit any obstacle. Dolphins listen very carefully to these echoes.

These sound waves are received at an area in the lower jaw called the “acoustic window”. From there, the acoustic information is transmitted to the middle ear, and ultimately to the brain for interpretation.

Echoes coming from the surrounding area give dolphins detailed information about the distance of objects from them and their size and movement.

Because of this system, dolphins can scan a wide area; they can even make a map of the ocean. This is a perfect sonar system and with it, a dolphin scans the seabed like an electronic instrument.

Modern submarines find their direction by sonar. Dolphins have been using a technology for millions of years that human beings discovered only in the 20th century. The sole function of this high-frequency sonar system is not to detect objects in the sea. Dolphins also use their sonar systems to send messages in an amazing system of communication.

They can even send messages to one another over a distance of 220 km. This means that a dolphin in the Bosphorus can communicate by sonar with another dolphin in the Dardanelles. It is impossible that a creature could come to possess such a wonderful system through its own will. This incomparable system that dolphins have is proof that God created them.

God has created every living thing with the wonderful visual system it needs. Human beings have marvelous eyes that allow them to see on land.

But underwater vision is quite blurred. The reason for this is that the human eye has problems focusing under water. To solve this difficulty, we use underwater goggles that form a pocket of air around our eyes. We can only see clearly under water with the help of these goggles.

In the same way, human beings use high-tech cameras in order to take pictures under water. Dolphins’ eyes are just like special cameras that let them see clearly both under the water and above it.

They have elastic lenses on their eyes that expand and contract to allow them to focus below and above water. This is an important need for dolphins.

This special design in the dolphins’ eyes also protects them from the salty sea water.
Dolphins’ eyes have another special characteristic: each eye can focus on a different point at the same time.

Because of this, a dolphin can look ahead with one eye in the direction in which it is swimming while it can scout around for danger with the other--a school of sharks, for example.

When necessary, a dolphin can even shut one eye and let one half of its brain go to sleep. Later, it shuts the other eye allowing the other half of its brain to sleep.

In this way, it never goes completely to sleep and is always protected from danger.

The fact that such an advanced technological system has been placed in the body of a living creature shows us a plain fact:. God created dolphins and gave them the special qualities that they possess

The engineering marvel, seen in the design of dolphins, is just one of the countless examples that show the marvelous creative art with which God fashioned living things.

For those who can see God’s glory and His artistry in creation, every living thing in nature is full of miracles. In a verse of the Qur’an, God reveals:

(These are) an instruction and a reminder for every penitent human being. (Qur’an, 50: 8)