Source: TH
Context: For the first time, Indian wildlife experts successfully tagged a Ganges River dolphin, marking a historic milestone in the conservation of this endangered species.
- The initiative under Project Dolphin, supported by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change.
- Aim: To track the dolphin’s movement, habitat use, and migratory patterns using advanced satellite-compatible lightweight tags.
About Ganges River Dolphin:
- Scientific name: Platanista gangetica gangetica
- Common name: Susu
- Habitat: Found in freshwater river systems, including the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
- Characteristics:
- Nearly blind, relying on echolocation for navigation and hunting.
- Lives exclusively in freshwater ecosystems.
- Sturdy, flexible body with large flippers and low triangular dorsal fins.
- Females are larger than males and reproduce every 2-3 years, giving birth to a single calf.
- Newborns are chocolate brown, turning grey-brown as adults.
- Conservation status:
- IUCN: Endangered
- Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule-I
- CITES: Appendix I
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