River dolphins
Franciscana
See all species The franciscana is a small dolphin with a very long, slender beak – in fact they hold the record for the longest beak in proportion to body size, of any dolphin. The franciscana’s beak is 15 percent of the total body length. Franciscanas live only in the shallow, coastal waters of the southwestern Atlantic of…
Read MoreSouth Asian river dolphin
See all species Although they now live in separate Asian river systems, the Ganges and Indus River dolphins look identical because they share a common ancestor. They are currently categorised as subspecies and scientists are considering the evidence that they have evolved into two species. Sadly, both are endangered; there are only one to two…
Read MoreBaiji
See all species The Chinese river dolphin, or baiji, holds the unenviable record of being the first dolphin species driven to extinction by human beings. The mighty Yangtze River in China was the baiji’s home for 20 million years. It took less than 50 years for humans to wipe them out. Baiji numbers crashed dramatically…
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