River Dolphin
I was watching a PBS show about the endangered Yangtze River Dolphin and wanted to learn more. They are also called fresh water dolphin because they reside in freshwater rivers and estuaries. Their are four species; three species live in fresh water, however one species, the La Plata Dolphin, lives in saltwater estuaries and the ocean. These four beak-nosed dolphin species are scientifically classed in the river dolphin family, but there is also the oceanic dolphin family classification.Some of the most endangered of all the world's cetaceans are the freshwater dolphin. They are extremely vulnerable to extinction because of human hunting and loss of their habitat. They possess either poor eyesight or are blind which causes naturally low numbers - making it easy to catch and kill this species with boats or fishing nets. Another possibility could be sub-aquatic sonar pollution may interfere with their sonar-based method of locating food. The Tucuxi species can live in both fresh water and salt water environments, but is not regarded as a true river dolphin.One species will have completely perished by the end of this decade and the Yangtze River Dolphin was declared "functionally extinct" because it was last seen in September 2004.
How sad; another species gets added to the extinct list.
What can we do as future teachers to help save the river dolphin?
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