India's national aquatic animal, river dolphin, under serious threat: Report

New Delhi, April 06: India's most famous river, the Ganges, is home to thousands of dolphins. But these freshwater dolphins are facing serious threats as reported in an article by BBC.

These are not the dolphins we see in the ocean. Gangetic river dolphins don't jump out of the water or swim upright. Instead, they swim sideways, stay underwater for a long time, and have long snouts. They are also almost blind. These special dolphins are called Gangetic dolphins, and they live mostly in the Ganges-Brahmaputra River system in northern India. They are also India’s national aquatic animal.

According to a new survey by the Wildlife Institute of India, there are about 6,327 river dolphins in India. Out of these, 6,324 are Gangetic dolphins and only three are Indus dolphins. Most Indus dolphins are found in Pakistan, as the river flows through both countries.

Both types of river dolphins are listed as "endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), meaning they are at high risk of extinction. Between 2021 and 2023, researchers counted dolphins across 58 rivers in 10 Indian states. This was the first detailed count of India’s river dolphins.

River dolphins are very different from ocean dolphins.

They have longer snouts and swim at an angle. Scientists call them “living fossils” because they have been around for millions of years. Their ancestors once lived in the sea, but when ancient seas flooded South Asia, these dolphins moved inland. As the sea waters went away, the dolphins stayed in the rivers and adapted to life in shallow, muddy waters.

Sadly, these dolphins are in danger. Since 1980, at least 500 river dolphins have died—many caught by accident in fishing nets or killed on purpose.

Conservationist Ravindra Kumar Sinha as quoted by BBC says that there was little public awareness about river dolphins until the early 2000s. Things began to change in 2009, when the Gangetic River dolphin was declared India’s national aquatic animal.

Since then, he continued, the government has launched efforts to protect them, including a conservation plan in 2020 and a new dolphin research center opened in 2024. Still, experts say that more must be done to protect these rare and unique animals. (BBC)