Indus River Dolphin

About this species

Size

Males 2–2.2m; females 2.4–2.6m

Habitat

Freshwater rivers

Range

Indus basin in Pakistan; a small isolated population in the Beas River and Harike Wetland, Punjab, India

The Indus river dolphin is a freshwater dolphin, the first side-swimming cetacean to be discovered. Its body is brownish and stocky in the middle, the snout thickens toward the tip, and the flippers and tail are thin and large for its size. Males are about 2–2.2 m long and females 2.4–2.6 m. The teeth of young animals are long, thin and curved, but in mature adults they become square, flat, bony discs. It navigates and hunts by echolocation (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is endemic to the rivers of the Indus basin in Pakistan and north-western India. In India a very small, isolated population lives in the Beas River and the Harike Wetland in Punjab, at very high risk of extinction. It is the state aquatic animal of Punjab. In Pakistan five small subpopulations are separated by irrigation barrages. One suggestion is that several north Indian rivers changed course in ancient times while keeping their dolphins (Wikipedia, general species account).

Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)