Dolphins? In my river?! (River Dolphin)

Dolphins are intelligent and physically adorable creatures and are known to be sighted only at oceans and seas, which are saltwater domains. Have you ever thought that there are other kinds of dolphins that live on freshwater or rivers? You see, dolphins have their own cousins called the river dolphins. Most of their species live up to their name by living mostly on rivers, and some can even survive in saltwater.

River dolphins are distinguished from their saltwater counterparts physically by the length of their snouts and the size of their eyes. They have longer snouts (approx. 4 times longer!) and smaller eyes.

River dolphin!

Marine dolphin

             


The eyes of the river dolphins are poorly developed because of the environment they live in, which is dark and muddy. This environment makes them less active than their marine cousins and river dolphins feed primarily on fishies.

Sadly, river dolphins are critically endangered. This problem is likely caused by dam building, entanglement in fishing nets, boat traffic, and pollution.

There are not much studies about these cute creatures but they are already nearing extinction. There should be an action done to prevent these dolphins from going extinct, and we could all start with prevention of the further pollution of these clear and freshwater domains.