Colour & Size
As young calves, Chinese White Dolphins are grey or dark grey in colour. While growing up, they will go through a mottled and speckled change, with their skin turning pink/white. Once sexually mature, they become pink and sometimes white; hence the nickname, 'pink' dolphins. Besides their unique colouration, they have very long beaks and short, wide-based dorsal fins. They are neither the smallest nor the largest when compared to other dolphin species. Chinese White Dolphins can grow to between 1 meter to 2.7 meters and they can weigh up to 250 kilograms.

Age
The oldest Chinese White Dolphin ever found in Hong Kong lived to approximately 40 years old. It is difficult to ascertain the age of a Chinese White Dolphin because it can only be achieved by examining their teeth. Dolphins have layers on their teeth, and one layer means one year old. Age determination can only really be accomplished in a post mortem examination.

Eating habits
Chinese White Dolpins has between 116 to 152 teeth. Although they don't use their teeth for chewing, they are good for catching prey and warding off competition. Dolphins hunt when there is need, as opposed to humans who have three regular meals a day, and consume as much as 10 kg of fish per day. Collichthys lucida, Johnius spp and Thryssa spp are the typical types of fish found regularly on the dolphin's menu. One of the most interesting, yet dangerous, feeding behaviours of the Chinese White Dolphin is that they will follow fishing trawlers in order to catch those fish that escape from the nets. Admittedly this is a far more convenient way to feed, but not without its disastrous consequences, namely getting caught up in the nets themselves, or getting injured from being too close to the boats

Anatomy
Like humans, dolphins are mammals and use their lungs to breath. They may not have an outer ear, but their sense of hearing is excellent as is their sight.

Communication
Dolphins use a highly effective means of communication. Unlike speech, as used by humans, dolphins either 'click' or 'whistle' to talk to each other.

Navigation
More impressively is their use of echolocation to locate objects, sources of food and avoid danger. Similar to bats, dolphins will produce a frequency of sound which is out of human's audible range. The sound will bounce off objects and return to the dolphin, and defines what the objects are, how far away they are, and what, in general, is in the surrounding environment. The forehead, or 'melon', above the dolphin's beak, is the communication hub and processes these echoes. Echolocation will also be used to find out the internal structure and density of the objects around.