How fast can whales and dolphins swim?
Toothed whales and dolphins can swim as fast as about 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour in bursts. Most baleen whales swim between two and four miles per hour when cruising. They may reach speeds four times that for short distances. A humpback whale is known to have covered 2,500 miles (4,023 kilometers) in 39 days. That’s an average speed of 2.7 miles (4.3 kilometers) per hour.
