Details
Platanista gangetica
Ganges river dolphin is a South Asian river dolphin that navigates turbid rivers mainly by echolocation. Dams, water extraction, nets, and pollution fragment river habitat and raise mortality.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It lives in deep channels, confluences, and pools of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna systems. Main habitat types in this guide are freshwater.
Typical length 200-260 cm, weight 70 kg-90 kg. A long beak, tiny eyes, stocky body, and flexible neck are distinctive.
It is active in repeated bouts across day and night and usually solitary. It surfaces alone or in small numbers and searches muddy channels with sound.
It is carnivorous. Fish, shrimp, and bottom animals are detected and seized with the long beak.
Females bear single calves that learn to surface and swim beside the mother.
Its limited range makes protection and habitat management important. Dams, water extraction, nets, and pollution fragment river habitat and raise mortality.
