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Rare Amazon river dolphins studied for environment change effect

A group of biologists, veterinarians and fishermen caught rare freshwater dolphins today on a. lake in the Amazon to study their health in the hopes of. preventing numerous deaths of the mammals due to a serious. drought in 2015.

The dolphins were brought ashore for blood tests and other. exams and went back to Lake Tefé as soon as the scientists had. completed their work that included inserting a microchip to. follow their behavior via satellite.

Anglers bewared not to harm an adult female dolphin. throughout capture and kept her near her offspring.

She relaxed and we could do the tests. She appeared in good. health, Marmontel stated. The work included getting rid of a sample for. a biopsy and the placing of the microchip on her back, which. will allow scientists to follow her movements, the depths she. swims at and even know the water temperatures remotely.

In a grim fallout from the longest drought in the. jungle's recorded history last year, the carcasses of more. than 200 river dolphins were found floating on the lake formed. by a tributary of the Amazon River.

Low river levels throughout the dry spell heated the water to. temperatures that were intolerable for the dolphins, scientists. say. Countless fish also passed away on Amazon rivers due to a lack. of oxygen in the water.

The Amazon river dolphins, a lot of a striking pink color,. are a distinct freshwater species discovered only in the rivers of. South America and are among a handful of freshwater dolphin. types left on the planet. Sluggish reproductive cycles make their. populations particularly vulnerable to dangers.

We study the health of the dolphins before the dry season. sets in, so we can understand how they respond to the heat, said. task head Miriam Marmontel, of the Mamirauá Institute of. Sustainable Advancement that mounted the expedition planning to. capture approximately 20 dolphins.

She said 300 dolphins died last year, most of them in Lake. Tefé, a 45-kms-wide (27 mile) area of water where the. dolphins like to be located, just off the Solimoes River.

The lake's water reached 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.62. Fahrenheit) throughout the 2023 dry spell, more than 10 degrees greater. than the average for that time of the year. The water is. currently at 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), stated. Ayan Fleischmann, a geosciences researcher at the Mamirauá. Institute.

Ecological activists have actually blamed the unusual conditions. on environment modification, which makes dry spells and heat waves more. most likely and serious. Global warming's role in 2015's Amazon. drought is uncertain, with other elements such as El Niño at play.

(source: Reuters)