Karmactive Staff
Photo Source: Hamid Elbaz (Pexels)
Dolphins are a type of aquatic animals, who are known for their extremely friendly nature, inhabiting oceans, seas and some rivers too.
There are different types of dolphins, like common bottlenose dolphins, Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphins and so on, there are fresh-water dolphins who can’t survive in saline water like Pink river dolphins also known as Boto.
Photo Source: Photo Source: Sea Shepherd Brazil.
Photo Source: Magda Ehlers (Pexels)
Dolphins like Botos can be really charming, they are born with bluish-grey hues and get pinker with age. They can be found in countries like Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela and so on.
One of the lakes where these dolphins reside is Lake Tefe, situated at the heart of Amazonas state.
Photo Source: sgt-bartos (CC BY-SA 3.0)
This lake has been a victim of global warming, and being located in an area so adversely affected by El nino doesn’t help, for it saw scorching temperatures, heating and drying of lake water.
The residents are also affected because those who earn livelihood on the lake water like boatmen, fishermen and associated jobs, were rendered helpless for months.
Photo Source: Meredith Nutting (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
This increase in temperature has especially affected the flora and fauna, who become silent victims, for example more than two hundred pink and grey river dolphins died last year due to Lake Tefe overheating, and the death streak continued this year too, fortunately not as high as last year.
Pink river dolphins had once been killed due to the folklore developed around them, however now they die due to climate change and their relationship with people like fishermen are not good for they affect their business.
Photo Source: Tim Ellis (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Photo Source: Michelle Bender (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The changing climate and increasing temperature has been making these water lives to be in extreme crisis, the dolphin species in the Amazon lake has been categorised as endangered by IUCN and needs monitoring and protection.