Hello, everyone at Steemit! I particularly have as my favorite animals the dolphins and in my first post nothing better than start talking a little bit about a very interesting and peculiar mammal whose popular name is Irrawady dolphin.
The Irrawady dolphin or Irrawady river dolphin is a species of cetacean from the endangered Delphinidae family and inhabits estuaries of Southeast Asia and the northwestern coast of Australia, scientifically named Orcaella brevirostris. Although occasionally called the Irrawady River Dolphin, this animal is not really freshwater, but inhabits the seas and can be found near the coast, although it frequents rivers and estuaries.
It was first identified by Richard Owen in 1866 and has a very peculiar physical feature: it has the shape of a large melon on the head and is dull, rounded, without beak unlike most dolphins and has a long and flexible neck, allowing it turn your head from side to side, as well a small triangular dorsal fin.
Their color is usually gray or dark blue. As adults, they can reach 2.3 meters in length, weigh more than 130 pounds and have a life expectancy of only 30 years. These dolphins live in small groups of at most 6 members, with a few exceptions of up to 15 individuals. They eat shrimp and other crustaceans, as well as fish and octopus
The Irrawaddy dolphin is in danger of extinction due to the action of man: they are trapped and drowned in fishing nets, affected by the noise of explosions when fishing with dynamites, are intentionally fished for human consumption and sometimes collide with boats whose propellers can cause fatal injuries.
Geographic distribution:
Source
One estimate indicates that more than 300,000 individuals are killed each year, with about 98% resulting from entanglement in gillnets and about 2% on trawlers and other equipment such as long lines.
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