Drought: Dolphins die in new location on the Amazon River – 10/27/2023 – Environment

More river dolphins have been found dead in a new location along the Amazon River amid severe drought. The NGO Sea Shepherd Brasil stated this Friday (27) that 16 pink dolphins and 3 tucuxis (another species of smaller dolphin) from the Coari River region died, along with seven other aquatic mammals.

The deaths represent “an extremely concerning development that may indicate that there are marine mammals dying in other parts of the river that are not yet being monitored,” Sea Shepherd said.

Parts of the Amazon River recently fell to the lowest level in more than a century as a severe drought upends the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and damages the Amazon ecosystem.

Low river levels during the dry months heated the water in some areas to temperatures intolerable for porpoises, according to researchers. Thousands of fish have also died in recent weeks in the Amazon tributaries due to a lack of oxygen in the water.

In addition to the 16 pink dolphins found dead on Sea Shepherd’s monitoring trips to Coari on Sunday (22) and Monday (23), the teams found 3 tucuxis, another type of freshwater mammal, and more 4 animals of an unidentified species.

Some live dolphins were also observed, all showing normal behavior, the organization said.

In total, 178 pink dolphins have been found dead since September, mainly in the Tefé River region, according to Sea Shepherd, which said this figure represents 10% of the population.

Slow reproductive cycles make dolphin populations especially vulnerable to threats.