Watch the video and learn about the pink river dolphins of the Amazon.
Video Transcript
We've come here to the Amazon to check out the boto dolphin, otherwise known as the pink river dolphin.
Pink river dolphins are sometimes pink because their capillaries are close to their skin. But they're also sometimes pale blue, and sometimes they're even an albino off-white.
There are five freshwater dolphin species in the world. Pink river dolphins are the largest. They can grow up to nine feet long and can weigh as much as 300 pounds, and they can live to be 30 years old.
The Amazon River has become more polluted over the years. Has this hindered the dolphins' ability to find their way in these waters? Actually, no, because their eyes are so small they don't rely on their vision anyway. They use echolocation, a kind of sonar, to find their way.
That large bump on their heads isn't their brain. It acts as a lens, helping them focus their sounds during echolocation. Let's listen.
Dolphins are great swimmers, and pink river dolphins are especially good. Why? They're incredibly flexible and ultra-maneuverable, even in shallow water because, unlike your body, the vertebrae in this dolphin's spine are free-floating. They're not fused, so the pink dolphin can easily perform 180-degree turnabouts and look-backs.
There's a lot we don't know about pink dolphins. We do know their numbers have fallen because of degradation to the surrounding rainforest. We also know that some local peoples believe them to be benevolent semi-divine beings equipped with magical powers.
Before the rainforest was threatened, inhabitants of the Amazon River lived in harmony with these dolphins. Now the dolphins are fighting for survival, and their future is as murky as this water.